Tibhar Evolution MX-S

Hello here is my first review for MX-S rubbers , got two sheets of them with maximum 2.1 mm sponge attached them on my old stratus powerwood blade, considering that i upgrades from softer rubbers ( andro rasant bh, dhs hurricane 8 mid-hard) first of all, after the first hold and first few balls i found that the blade is really heavier than before, stratus PW notorious for head heavy, and also mx-s are one of the heaviest! giving the whole combo good power when playing with good technique and fast full movement, the main problem till now is that i am not finding myself well yet, i dont have the same control as before for BH, MX-S is not forgiving at all, u should play very good technique to get sth from this rubber, till now i can't generate that enormous spin that i heard about, the spin i generate is good , almost like the one with DHS or fastarc G-1 , but it is harder to obtain that amount, i didn't find mx-s as very fast rubber, it is just speed enough when u play good technique, if you play passively this rubber is almost dead, noting that i am using all-wood 5 plies blade.. the best thing so far with this rubber is the serve recieve and small touches.. it's so controllable with good feeling to place the ball in desired spot while keeping it short.. i played for 4 sessions till know, the rubber needs to be cleaned to maintain its grip quality, i think i need to develop my physical skills to fit this rubber more.. and hope i will decode its secrets with more training sessions.

The second time i buyed this rubber, and i must say, i have tried now 184 rubbers, and this hs it all. Its a fast, incredible spinny, little tacky first class rubber from what now is the biggest tabletennisbrand in Europe, Tibhar. This does it all, and the spin stays the same for months and months. Its main goodies is of course the Spin, Speed (almost as fast as MX-P, Incredible spinny service, and it is a looper of absolute worldclass. Its a stayer on my magical blade Nittaku Septear Lead, a very, very good Hinoki-Kiso Nittaku quality blade. Oh, and the rubber reminds me on the first times i played with Butterfly Tenery 05, but this is far better!

I have played on and off with this rubber over the last 3 years. Every time I have used it, I have used it on both sides of my blade and used 1.9-2.0mm instead of MaxMax as this brought the weight closer to a sheet of Tenergy 05 2.1mm and increased my feeling for the rubber. I recommend this step for all hard sponged ESN rubbers.

The key to this rubber is to realize that it is a spin oriented rubber for someone who wants to both spin drive and spin with arc and the technique is largely similar across various shots, which is the case for Chinese style tacky rubbers but not the case for more power oriented rubbers like T05 and MX-P. For MX-S, you always brush and use the precision of your brush to determine the arc, even when driving. This is can lead to some high arcing drives on loops and counterloops, loaded with spin. Most people who complain about the arc on drives are simply trying to hit through the ball with T05 or MX-P technique without trying to precisely arc the ball.

The blocking and short game control of this rubber is amazing for an Euro rubber given the amount of spin. THe rubber is relatively slow compared to a power rubber like T05 or more strictly speaking, MX-P or T64. But the gain in control is great for those who want to consistently spin and spin shots can be played against a variety of ball types once the topsheet and sponge are mastered.

The main negative is the weight, but I think many players even at decently high levels would do well with 1.9mm sponge and Max is easily supportable if you use a lighter rubber on the backhand. On a Hinoki blade, you get an extreme feeling of grabbing the ball that some may really like.

Highly recommended. If you find the rubber too low throw, then you simply are not brushing with precision.

I found this rubber pointless because it's so heavy that its main advantage is negated. It's great at spin, but if it were half as spinny and 20 grams lighter you could accelerate more easily and get all that spin and more back on most shots.

This rubber makes you feel amazing in training shots, where you have time and foreknowledge of what shot you're playing, so you can get everything prepared and hit a wonderful spinny shot. In a fast game its weight drags your whole bat down, making it harder to align it fast enough and accelerate unless the shot is really well prepared and position is perfect.

Great practice rubber, but not a good one for actual play. Other rubbers do it better.

I used this rubber on 3 blade which are PowerSpin Carbon, Force Pro Black Edition, and my current blade Kim Jung Hoon. I asked Sanil Setty his setup and said that he uses MX-S on his backhand while his forehand is MX-P. In the first two blades I used the MX-S on my forehand but after discovering that Vladi and Sanil uses it on their bh I also followed. I transferred my MX-P and MX-S on my Tibhar Kim Jung Hoon blade and used MX-P for fh and MX-S for bh.

In my forehand side the MX-S feels like a boosted Hurricane rubber with a softer topsheet while on my backhand it feels literally like the back of my hand. I never imagined that a heavy chinese like tensor on the backhand would be this good. The ball goes where I want it to with the depth and length, very precise. I always watch Vladi's match and I wonder how he does is on MX-P until I discovered that it was MX-S all along!

I can say that MX-S is:
- A lot spinnier than MX-P
- Insensitive to incoming spin
- Very good in blocking and counter blocking
- A humiliating rubber that you can literally slap a spinny loop
- Surprisingly very good on backhand
- Slower than MX-P
- Really really spinny

I found my perfect backhand rubber with MX-S, spinny when looping yet insensitive when blocking. Now I understand why Vladi has so much control in his backhand. Did I mention that MX-S is slightly heavier than MX-P which adds power and stability on the fh side. Overall a very perfect rubber for bh but can also be used in the fh side if you prefer chinese style rubbers on fh.

Loved using MX-S on my RPB, but it's soooooo heavy! 55grs cut! Ouch!
Good balance of everything, but excels in brushing strokes. Drive throw is a bit too low for my stroke.

This rubber is a wonder, for one who used to only want to use Hurricane 3 Neo on his forehand. I thought that I can never use a Tensor on my forehand and this changed my mind. It feels similar to a Hurricane in terms of it being High Throw and that you need force to generate pace and immense spin, though you have to be in position to fully use it's full capabilities. I currently use it on forehand on my Stratus Carbon blade.

This rubbers has very high spin potential, good control and many gears which I like for my allround offensive game. The only downside for other may be is that it weighs a ton. And if you like "catapulty" rubbers you should stay away from the MX-S, as it doesn't simply play like a harder MX-P but perhaps an MX-P with a lot less booster, but if you like a rubber that you'd have to use your own force and power to generate spin and pace on the ball like using Chinese Tacky rubbers, then you'd like this rubber. Another use for this rubber is if you'd like to use a hard rubber for your backhand. Vladimir Samsonov actually uses the MX-S on his backhand, he clearly boosts his though.

Tibhar Evolution MX-S
Weight: 75 grams uncut, 51 grams uncut
Sponge Hardness: 45.7°
Hardness: Medium/Hard
Speed: Medium/High
Spin: Medium/High
Blade used: Tibhar Stratus Carbon blade


The MXS is the hardest rubber of the 4 in the Evolution Series. You can see initially the ball flew of the table as we found it a little difficult after using the ELP and FXP which have much softer sponges.

I was a little skeptical about using the MXS rubber on the backhand side beforehand thinking the sponge would be to hard, however I was pleasantly surprised. The direct nature of the rubber gave me the accuracy I needed to play strong attacking strokes mixing up the direction of play with ease.

When playing against backspin the MXS gripped the ball very well and produced slightly more spin than the other rubbers in the series. The topsheet of the MXS seems to be tackier than all other evolution rubbers which helps create more spin. To produce significant spin with this rubber however requires a fast arm and body speed with efficient technique.

For more in depth information about the Evolution MS-S click here.

I love this rubber on the BH side for RBP. It is a hard rubber with a very grippy topsheet. It provides very good feel especially when engaging the sponge. It provides tons of control and spin (need to engage sponge) and it rewards good stroke technique. Serves have tons of spin. Plays well on hinoki blades like my photino and a bunch of my adidas blades.

My first review and I am going to compare to what I have been using the last 4 months. A Drinkhall Powerspin Carbon blade with MX-P max thickness both sides. I kept an MX-P on my BH and glued an MX-S on my Fh, first to the touch it was definitely more grippy than MX-P with a harder sponge but I would say a softer rubber. It was only a small session just a warm-up with a few forehand to forehand and backhands etc; the normal, proceeded by some serve return stuff and followed by a few games. First impressions were positive whilst warming up my normal forehand topspin was troubling my hitting partner with several being blocked back long from the spin I was generating, I kept my stroke pretty much the same maybe a little more upward to compensate for what I would say is a slightly lower throw. Again switching to the backhand the same scenario, the spin was massive and the lower throw was more suited to my backhand stroke.

Moving on to serve return and again straight away I could see the spin was causing problems to my hitting partner, any backspin serves I could load right up and he would dump them straight in the net. He said how much more spin I was producing on my serves and that he had to adjust his bat angle quite a lot compared to the MX-P to return the ball. Going to a long dig from a backspin serve and this rubber to me was probably one of the easiest to open up against backspin I have ever used. If my footwork was good and I put maximum effort I could easily produce massive spin that would win a point outright or cause my partner to struggle to keep it on the table, but even when out of position I could still lift backspin quite easy with a flick of my arm.

I wouldn’t say a negative of this rubber but a compromise maybe, the spin is massive and the touch shots I could keep short and loaded, I felt confident with most shots and that I could control incoming spin easy too but once off the table, especially compared to MX-P personally I found it a little harder to stay in the top to top rallies. I would say that the slightly slower speed and extra spin helped me place the ball where I wanted but It lacked the outright power and speed to out hit my opponent from a couple of metres back. I had to generate the pace from my technique rather than rely on the sponge power. Not a weakness in the rubber for sure just different and maybe the slightly lower throw again, a more upward brush on the ball during counter hits.

I will stick with it for a while and see how durable it is compared to other Evolution rubbers but definitely I am liking the extra spin and touch I was getting. I would recommend people who use MX-P to give it a try, it shines at looping backspin and control is great too and if you stay close to the table whilst playing then there is no major weakness I would say.

I will update on durability after using it for a couple of weeks.

Speed 9.0
Spin 9.8
Control 9.0
Tackiness Slightly Tacky
Weight Medium
Sponge Hardness Medium – Hard, harder than MX-P.

Overall 9.8

As requested by some players after my last review of the TIBHAR Evolution MX-P, this week I have reviewed the TIBHAR Evolution MX-S. Like the MX-P, this rubber is currently available from my UK sponsors Bribar Table Tennis at a special offer, first 100 sheets sold price of £34.99, reduced from £46.99. You can view and buy it here: http://shop.bribartt.co.uk/tibhar-evolution-mx-s.html

I tested this in Sweden where I’ve been practising for the last week for the upcoming World Championships – I’m feeling good and strong! I brought a couple of sheets out with me on the off chance I might get some time to test it. I tested this rubber for an hour after our session on my spare blade, which is a TIBHAR Samsonov Stratus Carbon. I played with the MX-S on both sides of my blade, with the maximum sponge thickness available.

When I prepared the rubber I noticed the sponge seemed a little more firm and harder to touch than my MX-P, and the surface of the MX-S was tackier than my MX-P sheets. It is not like a Chinese style extremely tacky surface, but it is tacky all the same and running my finger along the surface provides a fair amount of resistant. It feels like this rubber is going to provide me with a serious amount of spin.

The first obvious difference between the MX-P that I use and the MX-S is the speed and spin difference. The MX-S is a tiny fraction slower, but the surface is slightly different and the sponge feels harder – but the spin it’s able to generate is really, really heavy when I’m playing my forehand topspin loop to a block. It gives me more spin from mid distance when I’m looping the ball on both my forehand and backhand, through the curve on the ball is not increased – the ball flies in a similar manner to my shots when I use the MX-P, the curve I get is similar but that’s probably more to do with my technique, the angle I hit the ball and my contact, but the spin is definitely a little greater. Remember, when it comes to the technique and contact point we all do this a little differently to each other!

When I’m serving short with spin, it’s easy to control the ball and keep it short whilst loading the ball up with backspin or topspin. With the MX-S being a little slower than the MX-P, this is an advantage when serving short and then topspin looping the 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] ball return from my opponents push ball. The high grip rubber top sheet allows me to spin the first ball aggressively.

When I’m receiving from my opponents serve, the top sheet allows me to touch the ball short easily with a really good amount of back spin. We do this a lot in the matches I play to try to prevent the first strong attack, so this is a really good aspect of the rubber. When I flick, the slightly harder sponge helps me to flick through the ball, and when my opponents serve drifts slightly long I am able to topspin over the table with relative ease as the rubber grips the ball so well.

Close to the table when my opponent is looping the ball at me, blocking and controlling feels easy. The ball does not sink as much into the sponge (although this is very, very marginal) but I am able to block very well and place the ball as I want to. The main difference is that the sponge makes the ‘feeling’ of the ball different. It’s not any better or worse than the MX-P that I use, but it’s a slightly different type of reaction and feeling that I think some players will really love.

For speed, I have rated the Evolution MX-S as 9.0. It’s fast, and a very good versatile attacking rubber. The sponge provides good speed and the top sheet is still a Tensor style rubber so the tacky nature does not take away from the speed, but it is a little slower than my MX-P sheets. Away from the table, when I’m playing topspin to topspin the MX-S feels brilliant, I am able to topspin the ball hard and with lots of spin, the arc is not huge but straighter than I expected, but the shot feels very safe and the topspin generated is brilliant.

For spin, I have rated the Evolution MX-S as 9.8. The amount of spin the top sheet provides is outstanding! It’s tackier than my MX-P sheets, and provides more spin. The ‘bite’ on the ball when I try to spin heavily from my loop shots, serves and receive of service push shots is really heavy. I practised some short sidespin serves with both backspin and topspin, and the kick on the other side table when the ball bounced was really extreme.

For control, I have rated the MX-S as 9.0. It is similar to my MX-P in this respect, but the feeling is different – it is a different type of rubber for a slightly different type of style so of course this will be the case. It is easy to serve short with spin, easy to receive with and great for blocking and controlling. The control on my attacking topspin shots is similar to my MX-P sheets, but again it just feels like a different reaction on the bat. It is the same control level but different. If you try both of these rubbers, then you will definitely be able to see what I mean by this!

To sum it up, this rubber is a fantastic choice for those attacking players who love the feeling of a slightly harder sponge and a top sheet that will produce lots of spin. I have played in the past with much harder sponges than this, so compared to those this sponge would still be medium-hard but this is certainly a harder sponge than the MX-P and the top sheet provides more grip. It offers a really good level of control, and a very good balance between the speed it can provide and the spin it generates.