Butterfly Marcos Freitas ALC

My latest Butterfly Blade (bought it last week)

After a long thoughts (maybe for about a year of choosing my next blade) I've decided to buy Marcos Freitas ALC.. My other options were: Tiago A ZLC, Kenta M, Viscaria.

The conclusion is that I am satisfied with this great Marcos Freitas.. and yes it's quite the same with my M.Maze that I used in 2011 to 2016..

At First, I fell in love when I saw the box, and the Blade inside. I will say that Butterfly has a good development in the product and packaging designs. Its truly mark up the class of the products nowadays..

At the store, I asked the shop assistant to open several products, and my choice end to Marcos Freitas ALC. I asked him to open 4 Marcos Freitas ALC, and I chose the one that has a nice top layers.. It has those small vertical patterns, (I don't know what those patterns named).. I felt I am comfortable with the one that I chose so yeah although its a quite expensive one, but I ll try..

Sample of Price Comparison of Butterfly in my country
TB ALC 160
Viscaria 140
Kenta 160
Marcos 200
Zhang Jike 210
Tiago 250

I am using my rubbers removed from my TB ALC, they are Tenergy 05 for my Forehand and T80 for my Backhand. My review will be based on my comparison of my TB ALC and Marcos Freitas with the exact same Rubbers.

Marcos Freitas ALC >< Timo Boll ALC
Feel: It has not so stiff feel >< Felt Stiffer
Speed in drives: It is slower, the ball lands in the center during warm up >< it is faster, the ball lands more to the end lines
Vibration: felt more vibration feel >< felt less vibration
Spin Producing: It produces more spin >< very Spinny
Service: Easier to make short and low serves >< A good blade for brushing contact
Receive: Easier to have short returns >< must be careful in receive, may give higher ball and opponent attacks
FH Top Spin Loops: the ball lands more on the table Somehow the ball goes like diving down towards the end line >< a good medium-high throw, it is best to brush the ball from table to net height, gives a nice arc, play well from 2 3 4 steps from the table
Very Suitable for close to table, most of my attacks lands on table >< Suitable for mid and away from table, it has more speed, power shots from close to table may make the ball fly off sometimes
Less incoming spin sensitive >< More incoming spin sensitive
Blocking and counter topspin is my game, my blocks and counter are safer lands on the table, gives my opponent that surprised faces >< Good for blocking, it returns with a good low arc and sharper balls to the opponent.

My Conclusion for my play:
I is good to have T 05 for both sides for my Marcos Freitas ALC *suitable for hard sponge/rubbers
I is better for me to use T 80 for both sides for my Timo Boll ALC *suitable for softer sponge/rubbers

Their main differences are the speed and feel.

Both has good control, good design.

I am using Marcos Freitas ALC as my main Blade since it gives higher possibility of the ball lands on the table for my play.
I am using Timo Boll ALC with my previous Tibhar Evolution ELS and FXS rubbers, I like this setup too..

Have fun!

Before I post the review of this amazing blade, here is the list of blades that I have and played with during my EJing time:

Premade Bats:
- GKI KungFu Dx
- GKI Offensive XX
- Donic schildkrot Carbotec 7000

Assembled:
- Stiga Offensive Classic WRB [GKI Hybrid GX(Max) + GKI Hybrid GX(Max)]
- Stiga Allround Evolution [Vega Pro(Max) + Vega Pro(Max)]
- Nittaku Septear [Evolution MXP(1.9-2.0) + Gold Arc 5 42.5(2.0)]
- Xiom Feel ZX1 [Evolution MXP(Max) + Omega V Pro(Max)]
- Stiga Arctic Wood [Rakza X(Max) + Omega V Asia(Max)]
- Nittaku Ma Long 7 [Hurricane 3 Turbo(Max) + (Hurricane 3 Turbo(Max)]
- Yinhe U1 VB [Palio Drunken Dragon(2.2) + Palio Conqueror(2.2)]
- BBCharlie 9-10-9 [Yinhe Sun(Max) + Yinhe Moon Speed(Max)]
- Xiom Feel ZX3 [Omega V Euro(Max) + Hurricane 3 Neo National(Max)]
- Drinkhall Powerspin Carbon [Aurus Prime(Max) + Omega VII pro(Max)]

And finally, my EJing days came to an end with this master piece.

Blade Composition:

Limba + Arylate-Carbon (ALC) + Limba + Ayous + Limba + Arylate-Carbon (ALC) + Limba


First Impressions:

Excellent Craftsmanship and Extremely comfortable handle. Once you get this blade out of the box, the first thing I noticed was the looks. Damn!
I paired them with Evolution MXP on both the sides. During warmup, I was astonished to get this feeling of ball grab + a slight vibration which tells you where did the ball contact blade.

Speed:

I noticed from free point forehand rallies that the speed of this blade is similar to Viscaria. Precision shots were like a piece of cake and easy to execute.

Spin:

Spin is one of the best qualities of this blade. If your game is focused on spin, your search for "my blade" ends here.

Control:

Controlling offensive shots close to the table was very easy; however, away from table, I had to focus on brushing the ball well to generate extreme power.
p.s. this does not mean that the blade is slow.


Counterloop and blocking:
This is the area where I am currently focusing on with this blade and I had to adjust my technique to get the ball on the table.


Which rubbers should you consider pairing with?
The throw angle of this blade is medium and you should pair hard rubbers to make sure you get that precise powerloop near the edge of the table.
MXP
Omega VII Pro
Omega V Pro
Gold Arc 8
Rasanter R 47

Conclusion:
If you are looking a blade which will give you the perfect balance between speed, spin and control without loosing the feeling; stop searching and get this one.

Butterfly Marcos Freitas ALC Blade
Weight: 92g
Type: Carbon OFF
Composition: 7 ply
Rubbers used with blade: Tenergy 05


The Butterfly Marcos Freitas blade that was released in 2016. I’m lucky enough to be testing out this blade with none other than Marcos Freitas himself, who’s currently world ranked at 15 with his career best at world number 7!

Marcos Freitas has been using the Michael Maze blade for the last 10 years and wanted his own personal blade to be based upon the same specifications.
The new Marcos Freitas blade is based off the popular Michael Maze blade with a similar 7 ply construction using Limba wood as the outer layer with 2 inner layers of Arylate carbon or “ALC.

The blade comes in a simple and elegant design with excellent craftsmanship. For you guys to get a good understanding on how this blade plays i’m going to be doing some brief comparisons to other popular carbon blades in the Butterfly range like this Boll ALC, Maze and Apolonia ZLC. I really like the handle, it has a nice grip and has the plastic hologram lens for authentication.

Written Review:

Speed:

As always training with a pro is challenging especially when trying to block their quality shots. I could feel the crisp carbon sensation you get with most ALC blades like the Timo Boll ALC, Zhang Jike ALC and Michael Maze blade. One thing I did notice early on was I put some balls off the end of the table which I had to adjust to as the blade felt quite stiff and hard.

When top spinning I liked how I could produce a lot of speed with excellent control. That is an area I like a lot with Butterfly Carbon blades in general, giving you both speed and precision.

Spin:

The amount of spin and depth on the ball when Marcos is away from the table on both the backhand and forehand is quite something!

I found I needed to have a relaxed grip to block Marcos’s incoming shots. The medium hardness of the blade required a loser grip to avoid the ball going directly to the net or off the end of the table, to get that feeling and control.

I found I could play really strong shots from close to the table, I could get huge amount of spin and quality in my topspins. The dwell and the combination of the limba outer wood generates enough feeling to produce spin but not to responsive to lose out on control. This is sometimes the case with other carbon blades such as the Super ZLC versions where the carbon blades are very rapid and responsive.

Again you can see me sometimes struggling in the video to cope with the huge amounts of spin Marcos is able to achieve. Perhaps with a less stiff blade I may have had more of a chance, but of course this blade is for attackers looking for lots of speed and power.

Serves:

Although I was happy with the amount of spin I produced when serving, as you would expect Marcos flicked with absolute ease. With the combination of Tenergy 05 and the Freitas blade I felt good bite and grip when I served. I even managed to surprise Marcos a couple of times. I find it easier to serve more consistently with the Freitas ALC when compared to the Boll ALC due it being slightly less responsive. This is probably because of the freitas ALC’s softer outer limba plys.

Dwell:

Top spinning against backspin worked very well with the Freitas ALC. This blade was in its element when capitalising on the follow up ball. I could play with good power and direction. Having used the Michael Maze blade in the past, I actually feel the Freitas blade is a touch faster but with slightly less dwell. I would say the Timo Boll ALC is a touch faster and slightly crisper, however no where near as fast as the Mizutani Super ZLC. The Freitas blade sits between the speed of a Apolonia ZLC and a Timo Boll ALC but is one of the best ALC blades i have used for producing spin.

I really enjoyed using the Freitas ALC in free gameplay as it gave me the typical ALC carbon feeling and precision that I’ve always liked.


Conclusion
Thanks to Butterfly for giving us the fantastic opportunity to test their latest ALC blade. And also the main man himself Marcos Freitas for featuring in the review.

The Marcos Freitas ALC is another great addition to the Butterfly range with the Portuguese taking inspiration from the Michael Maze blade to create his own personal blade with a similar construction.

The outer veneers of the Freitas ALC comprise of softer Limba wood, this means it is slightly slower than the Timo Boll ALC but allows for more dwell and spin. The limba wood helps play from away from the table producing good arch and depth in shots. Whereas the timo boll alc uses koto as the outer ply which is a harder wood producing a more crisp and faster shot which is in effect harder to control, the Freitas using limba gives more dwell, spin and accuracy.

The timo boll ALC has a koto outer ply which gives more crisp and responsive shot which is slightly harder to control however you will get greater speed with less effort. I feel the Freitas blade was more effective when away from the table. In comparision to the Maze blade, the Freitas ALC is almost indistinguishable apart from being slightly faster, more comfortable and comes in a newly designed handle. The Freitas is thicker than the Boll ALC, Innterforce Layer ALC's and only topped by the Garaydia ALC in terms of thickness.

This Freitas ALC is ideal for players who loved the Maze and want a blade that’s a little easier to control and less responsive than the Timo Boll ALC, with a slightly stiffer feel due to a 0.2mm increase in thickness. The Marcos Freitas ALC is not for beginners and is geared towards players who have a solid technique and can handle a fast carbon blade. This blade in general will suit aggressive attacking players who like a blade with a consistent, medium throw angle.

Hi,

I have recently been using the Freitas blade and I can honestly say that even with the limited time I have used it with, it feels great!

Very consistent bounce all around and feels very comfortable in the hand...I am yet to test durability as I haven't had it that long...but im sure its fine

Overall its a very fast and also controlled blade with a nice feel to the hand - would recommend to anyone - and the price isnt thaaaat bad either!

Hello Everybody I tested the Butterfly Marcos Freitas Alc blade.

My Blade wheight 86 gramms so it's a light one.

The blade Should be similar to the old Butterfly Michael Maze Alc blade. In some points the blades are the Same, but my tests showed me that Freitas is a bit faster than the Maze. Both blades are very good and easy to play with. The Carbon of the Freitas is very soft so it's not a Hard Carbon feeling like the other Alc blades out there (Boll Alc, Viscaria etc). I tested the blade with Tenergy 80 on forehand and Tibhar Evolution Fx-p on Backhand. Both Rubbers are not so hard so the bat is not Hard and heavy (177 gramms overall). Everybody Who want's a fast soft Carbon Blade Should take the Freitas. The blade has good dwell and helps me get a lot of spin in my shots. I think it's one of the Best alc blades for spin. With the Boll Spirit I could not produce so much spin. I like the Freitas more than the Boll Alc. The only downside is the price. There is a difference from the Freitas to the Maze blade but the Maze price was a bit over 100 pounds. The Freitas costs over 150 Pounds. That's to much. And with Tenergy Rubbers, the Freitas plays the Ball very high. That's not for Everybody nice. However a great blade.