The deck consists of dragons across multiple archetypes working together to link summon more times than you could hope to count, and it’s crazy consistent. The backbone of this deck? Rokkets! Rokkets are a fairly new archetype played by Revolver in the Yu-Gi-Oh VRAINS anime; they’re a dragon-type deck all based around guns. They all have an insane ability to bring out more and more monsters from your deck, as each time a Rokket monster is destroyed, you get another one for free right from the deck. Whether you’re looking to build a competitive Dragon-link deck, or if you’re more about building a pure Rokket deck, this list has you covered with some of the best Rokket monsters in all of Yu-Gi-Oh! Note: While a few of these cards may not actually have “Rokket” in the title, all of these cards work explicitly for Rokket decks and no others. As such they’ve been included for this list.
10. Speedburst Dragon
This isn’t a Rokket monster you’ll often see played in the meta game, but it’s got some interesting strategies in the right decks – so I wanted to give it a shout out! While this card doesn’t have “Rokket” in the name, it’s certainly a Rokket monster in terms of its synergy. Whenever you take effect damage, you can special summon this card from you hand, inflict that same damage to your opponent, while also gaining half of that amount back in life points. This is great for decks that inflict themselves with effect damage. Take D/D decks; half of the cards in there will inflict you with 1000 damage each turn, and this card actually turns that into an advantage. On the Rokket side of things, when this card is tribute summoned you can add 2 Rokket monsters from your deck to your hand. This is great for searching out those Rokket combo pieces exactly when you need them. Not every deck can afford a tribute summon, however, which is why this guy is sadly at the bottom of the ranking.
9. Exploderokket Dragon
Speaking of cards that inflict damage to you, this guy is a prime example. Most of the actual “Rokket” monsters will have an effect that activates when they’re targeted by a link monster’s effect, and another effect that special summons another Rokket during the end phase if it’s destroyed. When Exploderokket Dragon is targeted by a link monster’s effect, you can destroy this card to inflict 2000 damage to both players. This is a huge amount of damage, which can easily be game winning in the right situation. This also sets up your graveyard nicely. And because it was destroyed, you can special summon another Rokket during the end phase for free.
8. Tactical Exchanger
Tactical Exchanger pretty much doubles the value of your Rokket monster’s effect. You can destroy a face-up monster you control to special summon a Rokket from your deck or graveyard. So not only are you swapping out your Rokkets for better ones, but because you destroyed a monster in the process, you’ll get to special summon a Rokket from your deck during the end phase! This practically turns one monster into two of your choice. Who can say no to that?
7. Silverrokket Dragon
You won’t find extra-deck removal like this anywhere else in Yu-Gi-Oh, that’s for sure! When this guy is targeted by a link monsters’ effect, you can destroy this card to look at your opponent’s extra deck and banish any card of your choice from it. The extra deck is a pretty small pool of cards, with players only being allowed 15 cards in it. It’s pretty common to only run one of each monster in your extra deck – and so this effect can be absolutely devastating if you remove the right card. This effect also allows you to take note of exactly what it is your opponent is playing, so you can know all their extra deck strategies and plan for them in advance.
6. Absorouter Dragon
Decks that focus on Link summoning need one thing to do well: Cards that can special summon themselves easily. That way, you’ll have a bunch of materials to link summon with, and the extra deck will be yours to command. While you control a Rokket monster, you can special summon this card from your hand for free. At a staggering 2800 defense, this can be used to form a nice protective wall. But this guy is perfect for link summons too. When Absorouter Dragon is sent to the graveyard, you can add any Rokket monster from your deck to your hand. This allows you to replenish your spent resources, and it ensures you’ll always have a monster in hand next turn. This guy combos really well with Dragon Shrine, which lets you send dragon monsters straight from the deck to the graveyard. That way you can search out those Rokket monsters whenever you like!
5. Squib Draw
Draw power is incredibly important in combo decks like Rokkets. You’ll be spending a lot of resources summoning your extra deck monsters, and so you’re going to need a way to replenish your hand. Squib Draw does just that, while also allowing you to further your Rokket strategies. Basically you can destroy a Rokket monster you control to draw 2 cards. Destroying the Rokket monster means you can actually get a better one from your deck during the end phase, while you also get 2 extra cards. This is like Pot of Greed, but somehow better for Rokkets. And I didn’t think that was possible (at least, without getting banned).
4. Magnarokket Dragon
One thing that’s increasingly in demand in Modern Yu-Gi-Oh is non-targeting removal. Seriously, read half of the new extra deck monsters released nowadays and they’ll all say that they can’t be targeted by card effects. It makes monster removal absolutely impossible. Magnarokket Dragon comes to our rescue here. When it’s targeted by a link monsters effect, you can destroy it to send any monster from the field to the graveyard. The way this guy’s effect is worded makes sure that even if that monster can’t be targeted, Magnarokket Dragon can still send it to the graveyard – making this the perfect way to get over seemingly indestructible cards!
3. Quick Launch
This is easily the best spell card that Rokkets have in their arsenal. In fact, this card is so good that a lot of decks that don’t run many Rokkets will still play this, simply for how great it is at starting combos. Quick Launch special summons a Rokket monster straight from the deck, at literally zero cost. That monster can’t attack, and it must be destroyed during the end phase. But this is no problem at all for Rokket decks! Chances are we’ll be using that card to Link summon with anyway – and even if it does stick around to be destroyed during the end phase, this destruction will only bring out even more Rokkets. You just can’t go wrong with this card!
2. Striker Dragon
Searching out field spells is the key to victory in modern Yu-Gi-Oh. Why else would Terraforming be limited? When Striker Dragon is summoned, you get to search Boot Sector Launch, the field spell for Rokkets. And this spell is no joke, allowing you to summon a minimum of two Rokkets for free every single turn, but really you can summon way more depending on the game state. The fact that Striker Dragon is ludicrously easy to summon means it’s effectively a field spell you can access whenever you like. It only costs one level 4 or lower dragon monster to summon – and that doesn’t even have to be a Rokket! The field spell this guy searches just makes link summoning so incredibly easy in Rokket decks, too, making Striker Dragon the best link monster at your disposal.
1. Rokket Tracer
The bread and butter of the deck. Rokket Tracer is single-handedly the reason Dragon-link decks are even a thing. It’s a level 4 tuner-monster that has an insane quick effect. You can destroy any face-up card you control to special summon a Rokket monster from the deck. While you’re then limited to only summoning Dark monsters for the rest of the turn, this really isn’t a problem for Rokkets, who don’t run any other attributes. There are two fantastic strategies you can employ with this card. Firstly, you could destroy another Rokket monster you control. This means you get a free Rokket monster now off of Rokket Tracer, while also getting another free Rokket during the end phase because you destroyed a Rokket. Secondly, you can chain this effect to a quick-play spell or trap. When these cards are activated they’re going to be destroyed anyway. And since destruction doesn’t mean negation, this means you won’t be negating your quick-play spells either! This turns Rokket Tracer’s effect into a free Rokket at no cost whatsoever! My favorite play with this card is to chain its effect to Quick Launch. Quick Launch gets you a free Rokket monster from the deck, and so does Rokket Tracer: a beautiful two for the price of none! This’ll leave you with 3 whole monsters on your side of the field to Link summon with. And at that point, the extra deck is yours to command.
