Yasaka Ma Lin Extra Offensive

This is probably the most popular blade online- but it has very few reliable reviews. I have played this blade for about 7 months or so. I do not recommend this blade for beginners because it can be too fast and uncontrollable. A better option is Infinity VPS or Yasaka Sweden Extra. Fh: this blade can be a force on the forehand side-however it's difficult to find the right synergy with chinese rubbers. My personal recommendation is for a 40 deg chinese rubber, namely kokutaku 007. Hurricane 3 that has been boosted is also good. Drives are good the ball travels at a good speed with decent feeling. Loops have good power but has average spin for allwood. It lifts heavy underspin with relative ease- to be expected for allwood. Flicks: Probably the best blade I have come across which can deliver flicks with such ease. BH: This blade feels okay on the backhand- my recommendation is to play euro style/ japanese style rubbers. I have switched many rubbers on this, but I found that it played it's best when I had tenergy 19. With T19 I felt that my bh felt controllable with tons of killing power. Drives: The ball travels with a good speed, I think the feeling is crisp. Loops: A bit harder to control in terms of placement, but it's a sufficient pace to pressure opponents. Flicks: BH flicks were good. It's inherent quality of bh flicks depends on what rubber you use. Service: I enjoyed great amount of spin with this blade. Serve return: I was able to chop the ball with immense spin- often I got compliments on this aspect. Now the biggest con to this blade is it's terrible hand feel and vibration. To define vibration- it simply means how the blade feels when you hit a ball in your hand. All blades have vibration- think of a stick hitting the pavement. Blades in a simillar, but slightly different fashion all have this. Vibration will be used interchangeably with hand feel The Ma Lin's vibrations you will either love or hate. Hitting the ball on the sweetspot does not feel rewarding, it has this sort of unexciting feel to it. There's no dopamine when you hit a nice loop. The Ma Lin has decently sized sweetspot but hitting it right on- the ma lin's stiff feeling does not feel good. I think this a very personal preference type of thing- you either love or hate the feeling. It also has mediocre ball feel, compared to other all wood counterparts, the feeling isn't as good as say Infinity VPS. Your question might be why? Why does it play like this in my opinion? I reckon it's because of the Walnut top-ply. This wood is very hard and it's relatively uncommon in the modern era (or any era for that matter) to see it as a top ply. But it's what gives the blade its "signature feeling". Conclusion: A powerful blade for close to the table players, with outstanding service and serve receive- however it's vibrations could be a deal breaker for some people.

Well, I buy this blade cuz of its price and because of my amazement to this blade. I buy it with the Xiom Omega V Euro on FH and Stiga Airoc Astro S on BH (RPB). All of the rubbers are in max thickness. I Bought my blade for $60 (Rp. 700.000 in Indonesia). Its weight is around 84-86g. I bought the penhold version of the blade. Enjoy the review.

FH Topspin : Really great !!! Dwells much that creates a lot of spin. Controllable yet still fast and powerful to topspin from mid until away from the table. But Im not to satisfy to topspinning away from the table because it lacks a bit power so needing more effort.

BH Topspin : BH topspinning with my RPB is also great. It keeps the trajectory low to medium and give the opponents more problems to return the stroke. Try to use a medium to medium soft rubbers on the BH, its feels great.

Open Ups/Loops : Loops and Open ups are very effortless. The all-wood feel gives very good feedback and dwell that create a lot of spin thats hard to return. Very satisfying.

Driving/Hitting : Lacks a bit of accuracy, but its good for me when i use it on BH (that is not RPB [the same side]) still making a good stroke.

Blocking : Feels great. Lacks power a bit.

Counter attacks : Very good. Pair it up with my Xiom Omega V Euro, can create a really effortless counter attacks like topspin, loops and counter drives. Creates good trajectory.

Serving : Feels only a bit bouncy, but still can create a lot of spin.

Short play : Feels a bit lack of control, need to adjust but when done adjusting it, I satisfated for the result. Flicks also good. 3rd ball and 5th ball is awesome.

Conclusion : For me this the weapon that RPB Penholders searching. Its easy to create a very strong 3rd ball. I recommended for mix to agressive players that still like to play with power.

Regards,
William

Using H3 neo on it, fl version. What I have felt is that the blade is very good for close to table,solid touch and perfect feedback, one needs to be precise though as it has less dwell. It has minimal vibrations,which I liked.
Mid and long, one has to apply more power, may be because of my rubber, which needs to be boosted, i think.
The design of the blade is upto the mark, walnut hard outer plies, and handle is very comfortable, unlike Dhs blades, which have short handles.
The con of this blade is less dwell time. It has all the power, but when you need to get the ball more on blade, this blade lacks I think, still working with this blade. Will update as I get acquainted with this blade more and more!!
Note: I have normal commercial version. Wt:92 grms.