Introduction

In Yugioh, there are some monsters that can't be used for a Link Summon. This is certainly true for some Link Monsters and is used as a balancing factor. However, a few of these cards worked well despite this flaw, and today we'll be looking at some examples.

Kuri's Partner in Crime

Firstly, we have Secure Gardna, the first to require another Cyberse Link monster for its summon. It had a small, but notable debut in Extreme Force, finding its way into SPYRAL decks.
Gardna hopped onto the field, putting Linkuriboh in the GY and setting up the combo thanks to its useful arrow pointing to the right. The ease of its summon and the fact that SPYRAL Quik-Fix and SPYRAL Gear - Drone were handy Level 1s made it all the better!
After that, it had some niche uses in dealing with the likes of burn, notably when Mystic Mine was at its highest point, giving you turns to stay alive and mount a comeback. Cauldron of the Old Man was the deck's main win condition and stopping it from stacking high damage throughout the game paid off in the long run.
Once Salamangreat Almiraj came to the scene in BLHR, Invoked got a massive boost as it allowed Aleister climbing into Mechaba all on its own with the mentioned card and Secure providing the light material. Invoked is currently in a great spot thanks to Dogmatika too.
SPYRAL's brief resurgence saw Secure fulfill the same roll yet again with Linkuriboh for a repeat performance!
Lastly, Dinosaurs enjoy this card as it allows easy Double Evolution Pill plays thanks to the aid of Linkuriboh. Animadorned Archosaur searched the spell, went into Kuri, and then Gardna. Evo Pill would then be live by banishing the two to summon Ultimate Conductor Tyranno (or Qoatlus).
UCT can also destroy Secure to fuel its powerful Book of Eclipse-like effect!
All in all, a nifty card that plays a nice role in a couple of decks.

Agent Recall

A late bloomer of the Master Rule 4 era, Gravity Controller was a common card in Ignition Assault and popped up in decks like Shaddoll. It let you use the Fusion's GY effects and gave a Link arrow to boot!
The card is known for its non-targeting and non-destruction removal, blanking threats like Avramax or Salamangreat Sunlight Wolf without much worry! Gravity returned to your Extra Deck as well, making future uses possible!
Once ETCO got released, Parallel eXceed gave this card a new lease on life as it's one of the few ways to use that monster's effect with Almiraj and other Link-1s. Gravity gives it a zone to leap into and start making Rank 4 plays. Zoodiac also enjoys this card and even gives them extra ways to deal with monsters otherwise tough to deal with.
To sum it up, G-Con covers a specific role, but it's great in what it does. Its repeatability means it also only needs 1 Extra Deck slot to do its job.

King of the Unlinkables: The Phantasmal Horror

This classy knight shook the meta and pushed Orcust to insane levels back in 2019, leaving an impact no one could forget during the TOSS format!
Rusty Bardiche's materials let most DARK-based decks tap into its power. It gave you a free Fog Blade for your trouble and the quick-play spell, The Phantom Knights' Rank-Up-Magic Launch.
Bardiche let you rank up into threats such as Outer Entity Azathot which locked the opponent's turn down. In the OCG, the best use was with Dingirsu and the True King of All Calamities. Dingirsu sent a card on their turn, Bardiche destroyed a card, and later on, they got to summon Calamities and lock you out when they wanted to.
The strength of this combo also allowed them to play through usual board breaking options. Pendulum decks used Kali Yuga for a similar effect!
The rank-up got banned before the TCG had Ding, but the Link 3 stayed for a bit longer before following in the spell's wake. The ability to sit on two Fog Blades for free and the Send/Destroy combo was a bit too much to handle.
As of recent times, Launch is freed while Bardiche stays banned. The Phantom Knight support in PHRA has people speculating for it to be freed, which only time will tell as to what may happen.
Should it ever come back off the list though, it'll show the players why it was there in the first place.

The Promising Unlinkable: King of the Clouds

The Simorgh Link-3 offers a huge payoff with low risk at decks that can use it, tapping into crazy Winged Beast monsters with powerful effects!
After DUOV's release, Lunalight was the main user of the link thanks to Force Strix going into Wise Strix and so on. It then brought out Mist Valley Apex Avian or Barrier Statue of the Stormwinds for good results. Targeting protection was a nice bonus too, making it and its summons hard to deal with. Blackwings and Raidraptors mostly used this card after Lunalight's hit on the banlist. It hasn't seen many results in the competitive scene, but it was still something they could do. Dark Simorgh is an option that helps muscle past control decks and can be sided just fine.
Enter Dinosaurs! By using their ability to make lots of materials and safely build boards with the help of Miscellaneousaurus and Evolzar Dolkka, they made a strong shell for Simorgh. Reprodocus solved the part of needing a Winged Beast due to its effect.
Not only that, but they're able to guard the Statue with cards like UCT and Overtex Qoatlus! It's worth noting that Stormwinds messes with most of the best decks right now. Dogmatika, Eldlich, Adamancipator, and Infernoble don't like seeing it. Dinos have no issues getting it off the field, Tornado Dragon being the go-to choice to do so. The Link 2 Wynn works just as fine too.
Burning Abyss can do similar things to Dinos by using Cherubini. The Link 2 dumps Bird of Calamity and gets you to Sovereignty! Mechequipped Angineer or Beatrice plus their trap line-up and Farfa gives the statue a lot of wiggle room against counters.
Lastly, the upcoming Tribrigades are able to use this link handily. Keep an eye out for this one!

Conclusion

Not being usable as Link Material is a big downside, but these cards proved their mettle still! Please join us next time as we look into other monsters that have the same clause but are still worth using. Stay tuned till next time!