Lillian Corvus, formerly known as The Matriarch, returns as the heroic spellcaster, The Harpy, under the tutelage of Faye Diamond, aka Nightmist. This reformed magic user comes with powerful arcane abilities. And, might I add, it sure feels good to be on the other side of those relentless flock of birds!
But, The Harpy is still a witch-in-training learning how to control her powers, and it shows with her deck and a unique mechanic in her control tokens, representing the hold she has over the mask she once used to terrorize so many. When used correctly, the Villains will cower under the combined might of magic and fowl. But used unwisely, and The Harpy can quickly become a danger to herself and her friends! This guide will attempt to show you how to get the most out of this spellcaster without dealing too much damage to yourself and the rest of your team.
The Deck (“Every Good Spellcaster Has a Spellbook!”)
The Harpy’s deck consists of the following:
7 Ongoings (14 total)
(2x) Applied Numerology
(2x) Conjured Aura
(2x) The Flock’s Care
(2x) Harpy Hex
(2x) Magical Bequest
(2x) Swift Summoning
(2x) Uncontrollable Flock
The Harpy has seven different Ongoings she can play, four of which are Limited. They represent roughly half of the spells she can bring to the fight. Needless to say, you want as many of these in play as possible; they have a wide range of effects including, but not limited to, dealing damage to multiple targets, playing the top card of a hero deck, providing The Harpy with DR, and boosting the rest of her powers.
7 One-Shots (21 total)
(3x) Arcane Explosion
(3x) Calling the Flock
(3x) Directed Strike
(3x) Eldritch Training
(3x) Lash of the Elements
(3x) Mystical Outburst
(3x) Tenuous Focus
The other half of The Harpy’s arcane arsenal, all of these One-Shots (with the exception of Calling the Flock) have to do with The Harpy’s control tokens, whether it’s flipping them, have varying effects depending on what control tokens are in play, or both. Mastery of her control tokens will lead to mastery of her deck.
1 Equipment (3 total)
(3x) Ancient Tome
Her book of spells is designed to do one thing: play as many Ongoings from her deck as it can. The Harpy has a lot of Ongoings to play, so you’ll find yourself using this power often.
1 Avian Companions (1 total)
(1x) Huginn & Muninn
Lillian brought her feathered friends with her. Boasting 9HP and the ability to be searched from the deck or trash, her Avian Companions make it easier for The Harpy to work her magic as long as they stay alive.
Control Tokens
Yes, this is technically not part of her deck, but The Harpy’s control tokens dictate how aggressive or controlled her play is. She has five of them, and they start with three Arcane side up and two Avian side up. Because she has five of them, it’s important to understand that fundamentally speaking, she’s always going to have more of one than the other, and the effects of some of her cards change depending on which (for better or worse).
Overall Strategy (“With My Magic, I’ll Ensure Your Defeat…”)
The Harpy has the potential to do a lot of damage towards the end of the game. Between her Harpy Hex that deals damage whenever she flips a control token, her birds which deal damage as long as they stay out, and her potent One-Shots, The Harpy can be poised to get a lot done on her turn…if things don’t get out of hand.
If The Harpy has too many Avian tokens face up, some of her One-Shots end up hurting the Heroes just as much as the Villains, if not more. Conjured Aura destroys itself if there are more Avian tokens than Arcane tokens, and Uncontrollable Flock destroys itself if all of her control tokens are Avian. Even her Ancient Tome becomes hindered if she has too many Avian tokens face up.
On the flipside (heh), one of her One-Shots is more effective the more Avian tokens she has. And if Huginn & Muninn are out, they increase the projectile damage dealt by The Harpy if there’s more Avian tokens face up.
So, to get the most out of her deck, here are the main goals:
Get Ongoings into play that let us choose which tokens to flip. This lets us control how her tokens are oriented so her cards are always getting the maximum possible benefit.
Minimize the amount of self-damage dealt to The Harpy and her friends.
Get the rest of her Ongoing cards into play, particularly Harpy Hex and Uncontrollable Flock.
Once The Harpy has her Ongoings in play, use her One-Shots to do massive amounts of damage to the Villain, using her Ongoings to keep her under control.
How do we accomplish these goals? With careful play and a little bit of planning. At the start of the game, you’ll want The Harpy to have as many Arcane tokens face up as she can get. By the end of the game, you can dip into “Avian” mode to take advantage of Huginn & Muninn's damage boost while having the control to flip her control tokens back to “Arcane” mode, keeping her damage in check and her Conjured Aura in play.
Getting Started (“My Spells Strike as Swift as a Bird in Flight!”)
As you can tell by her deck list, The Harpy has a lot of Ongoing cards. Chances are, you started with one of them. Depending on what it is, you might want to play it immediately:
Applied Numerology: This card is the best card in her deck. And if it isn’t, then it’s really close. On the first turn, it changes The Harpy’s base power, Arcane Blast, to “Either deal 1 target 3 infernal damage, or deal 2 targets 2 infernal damage.” That’s good, but as we’ll soon see in the mid to late game, this card becomes great. Play this when you get the chance.
Conjured Aura: If you had a choice of which Ongoing to start with, this card would be near the top of the list. Automatic damage to multiple targets at the start of the turn, and the option to flip a control token the first time she takes damage each turn, what’s not to like? Yes, this card destroys itself at the start of the turn if there are more Avian tokens face up than Arcane tokens, but that second half of the card helps to prevent this from happening, and even more so than you think...
The Flock’s Care: At the start of the game, this card becomes DR 1 for The Harpy. Typically, you’ll want to keep it that way, as it’s the only line of defense she really has against damage from the Villain and the Environment. But, with Huginn & Muninn in play, you might be tempted to leave The Harpy in Avian mode to take advantage of the boost in retaliation damage. Ultimately, it’s not the first Ongoing you’d want to play (unless the Villain likes doing a lot of instances of small damage), but it’s still nice to have.
Harpy Hex: The other Ongoing you’d really want out ASAP. 1 infernal damage when you play it, and 1 infernal damage every time a control token is flipped? Five of her One-Shots, four of her Ongoings, and Huginn & Muninn can flip her control tokens. That’s over half of her deck. She’s going to be flipping control tokens, and she’s going to be flipping them often. You want free damage every time that happens. Play it if you get it.
Magical Bequest: If the rest of your hand doesn’t look too appealing or if you have multiple Ongoings you want to play, you can play Magical Bequest to discard a card and draw a card, then use its power to either draw a card or play another Ongoing. And as an added bonus, you get to flip an Avian token to an Arcane token as part of that power! For this reason, Magical Bequest should be played first out of all the other Ongoings in your hand, because Magical Bequest lets you play those Ongoings anyway!
Swift Summoning: At the start of the game, this card lets you play the top card of a hero deck, then flip an Arcane token if that card was a One-Shot. Probably not a good first play; yes, more hero cards in play is good, but the possibility of getting The Harpy into Avian mode this soon can really hurt her in the later turns. You do eventually want this card out as it does become one of her more potent end-game powers, but for now you want to start with something a bit more practical than a blind play.
Uncontrollable Flock: Another one of her cards that deals automatic damage, this is also the only card in The Harpy’s deck that can destroy an Ongoing or an Environment. But just as its namesake implies, this card is a bit uncontrollable. At the start of the turn, you’re forced to flip an Arcane token, which is not so good early game. Then, if you couldn’t flip an Arcane token, destroy this card. Yes, this card can destroy Ongoing and Environment cards, but only if you have four Avian tokens at the start of the turn (which requires a bit of planning), and the destruction is not optional; if there are no Environments or Villain Ongoings, you’ll have to destroy a Hero Ongoing (which could very well be Uncontrollable Flock itself). Same for the automatic damage; if there aren’t that many Non-Hero targets in play, you could be forced to hit a Hero target for damage! That being said, you’ll want this card out eventually as well, along with its second copy, but you’ll definitely want this card played after Conjured Aura, and after you’ve played Huginn & Muninn as well if you can manage it.
Ancient Tome: Yes, this card is not an Ongoing, but it’s just as good. Like Magical Bequest, this card lets you play extra Ongoings, only from the deck instead of your hand, and only as long as The Harpy is in “Arcane” mode. At the start of the game, this can be a very valuable play if you didn’t start with any desirable Ongoings in your hand since you’ll get your choice of the best one of two Ongoings from the deck, and be able to play it.
What about her One-Shots? Well, if you don’t have any Ongoings you want to play right away, here may be some of your options:
Arcane Explosion: Something to understand about this card; without DR or damage increases, this card will do 5 infernal damage to all Non-Hero targets. This card will also do damage to all Hero targets based on how many Avian tokens The Harpy has face up. On the first turn, this card will do 3 damage to each of the Heroes. That could be a price you’d be willing to take if there are a bunch of minions on the first turn (Grand Warlord Voss is a perfect candidate for this), but otherwise you’ll want to hold onto this card for when you can get all your tokens to the Arcane side.
Calling the Flock: Huginn & Muninn is a great card, and a card that can search for them wherever they may be while doing damage to all Non-Hero targets is amazing. This is a solid first play, probably ranking higher than any Ongoing or even the Ancient Tome depending on how long you think the Avian Companions will last at the start of the game. Indeed, the only reason you wouldn’t want to play Calling the Flock is if you have Huginn & Muninn in your hand already.
Directed Strike: At first glance, if you started with a less than stellar hand and you have this card, you might be tempted to play it. After all, it draws two cards! But take a closer look; it forces you to flip two Arcane tokens to Avian, meaning you’ll start with four Avian tokens in the early game, which drastically cuts down on the number of cards you can play for benefit. Save this card for the end game where you have more control over the control tokens and you have Harpy Hex and Huginn & Muninn in play to amplify the damage you can do with this card.
Eldritch Training: At the start of the game, all this card does is give you another Arcane token and replaces itself. Save it for later; it’s a handy card in the mid to late game.
Lash of the Elements: Starting off doing three damage to three targets while only taking two yourself can be worth it in some cases. If you really need to deal the damage right away, then you can lead with this card.
Mystical Outburst: 3 damage to a single target, and start off deep into Avian mode. There are definitely better plays you can make that will help The Harpy set up, or at least not be so detrimental to it.
Tenuous Focus: A better option than Directed Strike if you want to comb through the deck. Even though you’ll have three Avian tokens after playing it, if you drew or revealed something that can flip control tokens back to Arcane, you’re free to get the blind play. This includes Conjured Aura for reasons that will be explained later. If you didn’t get anything that can flip Avian tokens, you’ll have to use your best judgment to decide whether to play that card you just drew or discard it and flip that Avian token right back.
Learning to Control Your Power (“The Mask No Longer Controls Me…”)
In the mid-game, you’ll generally want The Harpy in Arcane mode to keep her options open. To this end, you’ll want Conjured Aura, Huginn & Muninn, and Magical Bequest out as fast as possible, as they’re all cards that can stay out and flip Avian control tokens as needed. While Conjured Aura looks like a hard Ongoing to keep in play, keep in mind that if you start the turn with three Avian tokens, Conjured Aura can damage The Harpy, allowing you to flip a control token before Conjured Aura checks to see whether it gets destroyed. You’ll want Conjured Aura out before Uncontrollable Flock, otherwise it will be that much more difficult to keep Conjured Aura in play.
Most of the time, Huginn & Muninn should flip an Avian token at the end of your turn. If you have no Avian tokens, feel free to hit a target for 2 projectile damage at the end of the turn. If Huginn & Muninn are taking damage and you have Calling the Flock in hand, resist the urge to play it right away; it’s better to let Huginn & Muninn be destroyed by the Villain and bring them back at full health than simply healing them for 5HP, especially because they don’t have any start of turn effects you need to worry about.
As stated earlier, Magical Bequest is a great Ongoing to have. You’ll be using its power over and over until you have no Ongoings in your hand. Once that happens, get Ancient Tome out and start pulling more from your deck! And all the while, you’ll be flipping Avian tokens, keeping The Harpy under control.
With Conjured Aura on the field, Lash of the Elements and Arcane Explosion become that much safer to play. For instance, with all five Arcane tokens, play Arcane Explosion, flip one Arcane token, deal 4 damage to all Non-Hero targets, then deal 1 damage to all Non-Hero targets, and then deal 1 damage to The Harpy. Conjured Aura flips the Avian token right back, leaving you to deal zero damage to the rest of the Heroes.
Once you’ve got everything under control, Uncontrollable Flock can come into play to tack on some extra damage. And Mystical Outburst and Directed Strike can even be played to deal some direct damage (the latter likely increased with Huginn & Muninn if they’re still out), and you’ll still have enough abilities to flip those Avian tokens back to Arcane before the start of your next turn. While Uncontrollable Flock is your only way of destroying Villain Ongoings and Environments, it should only be done as a last resort: not only do you have to wait until the start of your next turn, but you have to set your control tokens to four Avian face up, and it only destroys one. In exchange, you’ll most certainly have to destroy Conjured Aura, leaving you with fewer ways to get back to Arcane mode. Likely not worth it, unless it’s a problem your team can’t otherwise solve.
Eldritch Training can be used to get The Harpy back on track if you find the control tokens shifting towards Avian. You can even use it to destroy an Uncontrollable Flock that has overstayed its welcome, or an extra Magical Bequest or Swift Summoning if you need the extra token flip. And the extra card and power is a nice bonus, as The Harpy can get a lot of extra powers into play.
Applied Numerology (“Fun With Numbers”, by Lillian Corvus)
The versatility of this card cannot be overstated. By itself, this card makes it safer to play Arcane Explosion, Uncontrollable Flock, and Lash of the Elements, and a bunch of other cards from other Hero decks (Tachyon’s Pushing the Limits, Haka’s Rampage, KNYFE’s Incidental Contact, etc.). It also provides protection from cards that make the Heroes do damage to themselves. On its own, this would make Applied Numerology a good card, but wait, it gets better.
Being able to increase or decrease a numeral on a power The Harpy uses in her play area is just fun. On her base power, she can deal 3 damage to one target, or 2 damage to 2 targets. If you need to flip a token and Conjured Aura is in play, you can have one of the targets be The Harpy herself and reduce the damage she takes to 1.
Ancient Tome’s searching ability becomes amazing, able to seek out 3 Ongoings and letting you play one. Or, if you’re in Avian mode, decrease the required number of Arcane tokens from 3 to 2 in order to play the just-searched Ongoing.
Magical Bequest changes to draw 2 cards or play 2 Ongoings, and flip an Avian token. Great for setting up quickly or if you need the card draw, especially after a Directed Strike.
Swift Summoning lets you play the best revealed top card from 2 Hero decks. Yes, you can also reduce the number of Arcane tokens that gets flipped to 0 (or increase it to 2, if you need some Avian tokens to flip), but by this point, you should have the necessary cards in play to flip the control token back. This can be used mid-game to help you or another Hero set up. By the end of the game, you should be using this power almost exclusively and hunting for powerful One-Shots that can bring the game to a close.
If any other powers enter The Harpy’s play area, Applied Numerology works here as well. Captain Cosmic’s Cosmic Weapon, the Treasures from The Tomb of Anubis, and more recently, the Mission Rewards from the Oblivaeon scenario can all qualify.
The Grand Finale (“Nothing Can Stop My Magic!”)
By the end of the game, you should have most of your Ongoing cards out. Between Harpy Hex, Huginn & Muninn, and Applied Numerology, your One-Shots are capable of dealing profound amounts of damage exclusively to Non-Hero targets while safely riding the line between Arcane mode and Avian mode. Use your ability to control which tokens are face up by the start of The Harpy’s turn, and you can pull off turns like this:
With all Arcane tokens, Conjured Aura deals 1 infernal damage to three targets. Play Mystical Outburst to flip 4 control tokens, dealing 5 infernal damage to one target, and 4 instances of 1 infernal damage from Harpy Hex. Activate Swift Summoning to reveal the top card of 2 Hero decks and play a One-Shot to flip an Arcane token, dealing 1 infernal damage with Harpy Hex. At the end of the turn, Huginn & Muninn flips one token back to Arcane, dealing 1 damage with Harpy Hex. You can choose The Harpy to take this damage to flip a second token back to Arcane, dealing another 1 damage. At the start of the next turn, you can use Conjured Aura to damage The Harpy if you need to flip a third token back to Arcane and keep Conjured Aura in play.
With 3 Avian tokens after Conjured Aura and Uncontrollable Flock resolves, play Directed Strike to flip two Arcane tokens, dealing 2 instances of 1 infernal damage with Harpy Hex. Discard 5 cards, dealing 2 projectile damage per card thanks to Huginn & Muninn. Use Magical Bequest to draw 2 cards and flip an Avian token, then have Huginn & Muninn flip another Avian token, dealing 1 damage for each flip. Uncontrollable Flock then deals 2 projectile damage to three targets. The last target can be The Harpy if needed, reducing the damage to 1 with Applied Numerology and flipping a token with Conjured Aura.
The possibilities are many, and all of them devastating to the Villain. Play smart, and The Harpy will be a force to be reckoned with!
Weaknesses (“No…Keep It Together, Lillian…”)
The Harpy’s dependence on having a lot of Ongoings in play to deal damage and control her powers makes her a prime target for Villains who like to destroy them. Having her Ongoings destroyed will set her back that many turns as she struggles to stay in control, as she has very few One-Shots that will be safe to play while she’s in Avian mode. Against Villains with a lot of Ongoing destruction, you might choose to hold onto Ancient Tome until you absolutely need it to pull more Ongoings from her deck.
What will also hinder The Harpy’s effectiveness is any sort of DR on the Villains. Since a large portion of her damage is in 1 damage plinks, she will find it difficult to stay relevant with a few Gene Bound Guards or Runes of Malediction on the field. Even Arcane Explosion only does 3 damage to Villains with DR 1 while your Heroes take the full blast. You might be tempted to play Mystical Outburst for damage that can get over the DR, but resist this urge; without the proper cards in play, you’ll only be able to do this once, and then you’ll really struggle to do much else but twiddle your thumbs. Instead, focus on getting Applied Numerology and Swift Summoning out ASAP, and let the Heroes who can get past the DR get the extra plays.
The Dreamer is a particularly bad matchup for The Harpy, as not only do Dark Heroes make Lillian’s life miserable (Advanced mode doubles that misery until she flips), but all of the indiscriminate damage in her deck becomes a huge liability (Arcane Explosion is out of the question in this fight). Use the time in the first half of the battle to set up, and get Swift Summoning and Applied Numerology out to aid the team. Once she flips, you can go all out with your targeted One-Shots and effects.
Team-Ups (“New Friends and Old Friends; Together, We’re Unstoppable!”)
As the newest member of the Darkwatch team, it only makes sense that Lillian’s teacher, Nightmist, makes for a great teammate. Applied Numerology cuts down on all of the damage that Nightmist deals herself, and can make playing Oblivion less scary. In addition, using Ancient Tome to dig out The Harpy’s Ongoings also fuels her discard, which Nightmist can take advantage of with Mist-Fueled Recovery; heal for a ton of HP, then shuffle back all those Ongoings that The Harpy had to pass up so she can dig for them again!
Any Hero that can provide The Harpy with extra powers can make for a great teammate, but Captain Cosmic deserves a special mention. Cosmic Weapon in The Harpy’s hands with Applied Numerology can make her deal 4 damage to 1 target, or 3 damage to 2 targets! Augmented Ally and Dynamic Siphon can both provide the extra powers The Harpy so desperately needs, and The Harpy can even use any instances of 1 damage to activate Dynamic Siphon! This is especially fun if you target a Dynamic Siphon at full health with Lash of the Elements while you have all of her powers in play! Vitality Conduit can also be used to keep Huginn & Muninn alive, or The Harpy herself if she needs it, again using any of her instances of 1 damage to trigger it.
Sky-Scraper while in Huge form can be a little bit rough on the Heroes, but Applied Numerology makes this a non-factor. In exchange, Micro-Assembler can fetch the Ancient Tome if it’s not already in The Harpy’s hand.
Akash’Thriya also appreciates Applied Numerology on the field for all of her effects that deal damage to herself, and for reducing the damage Akash’Flora deals to itself from the first power another Hero uses at the start of her turn (which could be used by The Harpy to accelerate her set up).
Visionary is probably the best teammate for The Harpy because of Twist the Ether; not only does it further reduce the damage The Harpy deals to herself and the team, but it practically doubles her damage output while changing every instance of damage to projectile, and lets her stay in Avian mode with near impunity as long as Applied Numerology is out. With Twist the Ether, Applied Numerology, Huginn & Muninn, and Harpy Hex in play, Directed Strike can deal up to 21 damage! Arcane Explosion deals 9 damage to all Non-Hero targets and 2 less damage to each Hero target, plus 3 damage to one target for flipping a control token! Lash of the Elements deals 9 damage up to 2 targets or 6 damage to 3 or more targets depending on how many Arcane tokens are face up while The Harpy takes nothing in return! As if that weren’t enough, Mental Divergence can be used to put the Ongoings The Harpy had to discard with Ancient Tome into her hand to be played with Magical Bequest.
Darkwatch Harpy (“The Harpy, Reporting for Duty, Ma’am!”)
Darkwatch Harpy is good. Like, really good.
A base power that adds further command over her control tokens and an extra card play to take advantage of it? Well, one of the Darkwatch variants had to be amazing, right? The one bad part about Refocus is that Applied Numerology can’t affect it, but you’re not going to notice that when you’re able to set up that much quicker and play that much more loosely with her One-Shots, especially Tenuous Focus and Directed Strike to supply her with cards so she can use those extra plays. Her playstyle otherwise doesn’t change; you’re still going to want all your Ongoings in play, but Eldritch Training’s effectiveness also gets a massive boost thanks to Refocus (flip two Avian tokens, potentially a third token, draw a card, then play a card). Faster, better, stronger. What’s not to like?
And that concludes my guide to The Harpy. You might find her tricky to use at first, but play smart and plan ahead, and you’ll find The Harpy to be the potent hero she was always destined to be. Whether through her powerful spells or under the beaks of an uncountable number of birds, by the time she’s done, the bad eggs won’t want to leave their nests.
