DARKStriker Dragon
ATK:
1000
LINK-1
View:
10737
Link Arrow:
Left
1 Level 4 or lower Dragon monster If this card is Link Summoned: You can add 1 "Boot Sector Launch" from your Deck to your hand. You can target 1 face-up monster you control and 1 "Rokket" monster in your GY; destroy that monster on the field, and if you do, add that other monster from the GY to your hand. You can only use each effect of "Striker Dragon" once per turn.
Striker Dragon — Power Evaluation
Final Score: 59 ± 6 · Confidence: Medium
- Intrinsic: 55 · Deck: 62 · Meta: provisional
- Primary role: Searcher/Tutor · Secondary: Material body, Recovery/Recursion
Why it scores here
Striker Dragon is a Link-1 body whose main value is a deck search on Link Summon (Boot Sector Launch) plus an optional own-monster destruction that returns a Rokket from the GY to hand. It converts one Link Summon into a searched card and a possible recovery, but it does not build a board or interact with the opponent, so its score stays in the middle band. The 400/400 deck presence, 60 distinct archetypes and strong partner data confirm it is played everywhere, but that frequency was discounted rather than used to inflate the score (guardrail 3). Its ATK of 1000 and its Link-1 stats earned nothing.
Axis scores
| Axis | Score | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | 62 | Needs a Level 4 or lower Dragon to Link Summon, and then the on-Link-Summon search is guaranteed; it appears in 400 of 400 decks with 84.5% Ash Blossom co-inclusion (observed for presence, inferred for the Dragon requirement). |
| Combo & Conversion | 45 | Converts a summon into one searched card and an optional recovery, but none of its 6 recorded combo boards tag it as starter, searched, material or payoff, so conversion is inferred to be modest (inferred, combo roles all zero). |
| Resource Economy | 62 | The deck search is a net +1 card, and the destroy-and-recover line is roughly card-neutral because it trades one of your monsters for a Rokket from the GY (verified from card text, plus observed 1.26 copies per deck). |
| Effect & Interaction | 5 | Both effects act on your own face-up monsters and the search has no opponent interaction at all (verified from card text). |
| Material Utility | 40 | As a Level-1-style Link body it is a DARK Dragon with a Left arrow and 1000 ATK, a usable but not clean material; it is only partly effect-independent because the Link Summon search depends on the summon itself (inferred). |
| Resilience & Flexibility | 40 | The Link Summon trigger can be negated by a hand trap such as Ash Blossom, which Striker Dragon is commonly paired with, and the destroy effect needs a specific Rokket in the GY, so redundancy is limited (observed partner pairing plus verified text). |
| Deck-Building Efficiency | 70 | Typically runs 1 copy with 2 copies in 26% of decks; it is not a garnet or a brick and fits many homes (observed from copies distribution and usage statistics). |
Calculation
Weight profile: 0.7 Searcher/Tutor + 0.3 Material body. Intrinsic ≈ 55, Deck ≈ 62, Meta = provisional. Modifiers: none. Final formula: 0.40*Intrinsic + 0.60*Deck
Strengths
- Guaranteed deck search on Link Summon (Boot Sector Launch)
- Optional recovery of a Rokket from the GY for a monster it destroys
- Cheap Link-1 body that fits many Dragon and Rokket homes
- Typically a single copy with no garnet cost
Weaknesses
- No opponent interaction; both effects act on your own monsters
- Needs a Level 4 or lower Dragon for its Link Summon
- Recovery effect requires a specific Rokket in the GY
- Its effects are negatable by hand traps such as Ash Blossom
Counters / choke points
- Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring and similar hand traps that negate the Link Summon trigger
- Opponent interaction that targets the Link Summon
Best use
Searcher on Link Summon, with an optional Rokket recovery. Decks: Rokket, Dragon Link, Borrel, Bystial/Byssted, Dragonmaid. Suggested copies: 1.
Evidence & gaps
- Verified: Link-1, DARK Dragon, 1000 ATK, Left arrow (card); On Link Summon, adds Boot Sector Launch from Deck to hand; each effect once per turn (card text); Destroys a face-up monster you control to add a Rokket from GY; effect targets your own monster only (card text); Present in 400 of 400 sampled decks; 1.26 copies average (decks_evidence)
- Observed: Top partners include Ash Blossom & Joyous Spring at 84.5% and Mulcharmy Fuwalos at 74.8% (decks_evidence); Inclusion of 100% in several Dragon Link and Rokket archetype statistics (usage_statistics); Appears in 6 of 6 recorded combos, but with zero starter, searched, material or payoff tags (combos_evidence)
- Inferred: Its Link Summon search and Rokket recovery are a modest combo contribution, not a board-building engine; Ash Blossom-style hand traps are the main interruption for its trigger
- Data gaps: Combo role tags are all zero, so the combo_conversion axis rests on inference No dated metagame sample, so meta_power is null