I've played with this blade for a few sessions and I'm already liking it a lot. The thing I noticed right away is how controlled this blade is in the short game. I can receive serves and place them close to the net. I can also return powerful loops very softly. 10/10 in this regard, this blade is incredible in the short game.
This blade seems to be designed for the traditional Chinese style -- aggressive close-to-table play, with lots of chop blocks and flicks. It really excels in this style.
Remarkably, I think this blade is actually faster than a lot of carbon blades, especially when flicking and smacking the ball.
My setup for this blade was:
- Xuperman Powerplay-X FH
- DHS Hurricane 3 BH
- cpen style blade
weight: 210 grams
A bit about me: I've played mostly with 1-ply hinoki blades, and usually use the Nittaku Miyabi. I've also played extensively with the Yasaka Ma Lin Extra Offensive (MLEO) blade. I've also played with the Stiga Dynasty Carbon for a few months now. These are my points of reference when assessing the Rosewood NCT V.
Compared to Ma Lin Extra Offensive: The Rosewood feels halfway between the Ma Lin Extra Offensive and the Dynasty Carbon. Rosewood NCT V feels generally pretty similar to the Ma Lin Extra Offensive -- they have a similar ply construction, after all. The Rosewood has more "pop" than the MLEO -- it's a bit faster, has a higher throw angle, and it makes a cracking sound when you hit the ball. With Ma Lin Extra Offensive, you need to be very active in your blocking, but with Rosewood you can be much more passive, and you can take pace off of the ball more easily. With hard drives, the MLEO is much more forgiving if you don't use the correct racket angle. Rosewood is more forgiving than MLEO when looping far away from the table.
Compared to Dynasty Carbon: The Rosewood has a few characteristics of the Dynasty Carbon as well -- it engages heavily in response to topspin, which allows for good counterattacks, and it allows one to play powerful shots when swinging hard. I think the Rosewood lets you flick the ball faster than Dynasty Carbon, but it is slower and less-controlled on loops.
Compared to hinoki: this blade is much more controlled in the short game but much less controlled when looping far from the table. The feeling is completely different from hinoki.
Short game: This is the place where the Rosewood really shines, in my opinion. Rosewood allows for a more passive short game than Ma Lin Extra Offensive -- it lets you touch the ball with a loose wrist and still return a very spinny ball. With MLEO, you need to block actively to play well in the short game, but with Rosewood you can play passive blocks much more easily. With the Rosewood, I found it quite easy to return powerful loops very slowly and close to the net -- something which surprises my opponents.
Driving: When driving with this blade, keeping your wrist and elbow tense will make a very powerful shot -- almost like a carbon blade. I would say the drive is even faster than the Dynasty Carbon. The stiffness of your wrist really plays a big role in how you play with this blade. If your wrist is loose, you can touch the ball very softly. If your wrist is tense you can smack the ball very hard.
Looping: It seems to me like you have to be very careful when looping. You should have a loose wrist, and try to make very tangential brushing contact with the ball. If your wrist is even a little bit tense, you will smack the ball and it will not be so accurate. But if you can manage to stay relaxed, the loops are very nice and spinny. If you are careful, this blade will generate more spin than Dynasty Carbon. But it is less controlled than Dynasty Carbon -- a small error in technique will result in smacking the ball out of bounds. Furthermore, hitting hard will result in a higher throw angle, so you need to compensate for that as well.
Counterspin/counterattack: This is another really nice aspect of the blade. If you attack a spinny ball, you can press it down hard and make a great counterattack. This will activate the outer layers and make a "pop". Compared to other blades, you need to angle the Rosewood down quite a lot when counterattacking. This takes some time to get used to -- I hit a lot of balls off the table when counterattacking.
Flicking: The flicks are really nice, and it pairs well with the short game that this blade lets you play. I think this blade allows you to flick even faster than the Dynasty Carbon. When playing with this blade, I would try to keep the ball as close to the net as possible, and then flick the ball when my opponent made a small error. Playing a short game with flicking kill-shots is a good way to use this blade.
RPB: Rosewood has a very stable backhand, I think. I usually don't have a very accurate penhold backhand, but it felt very safe when playing with the Rosewood.
Penhold vs handshake: I think that this blade is only particularly good for penholders. Usually I get a cpen blade, and I play both penhold and shakehand with it. Usually, I find that the blade feels pretty similar with both grips. For the Rosewood, this was not the case -- when I tried playing handshake style, there was almost no feeling. I suspect that you need to have fingers in the middle of the paddle (like with a penhold grip) to take full advantage of the feeling and touch that this blade has. It seems like most of the feeling does not get transferred to the handle. But maybe this is different if you get a handshake-style version of this blade.
I'm going to use Rosewood as my main blade for a few months. As of now, I like it even more than the Dynasty Carbon.