Specific next blade for my playing style?

I use the Nittaku acoustic in Chinese penhold (tg2 NEO/ s3-60) and I can tell you I have a similar strategy (short backspin serve and either backhand flick if short push or soft spinny loopy if a bit long. If high and long I take opportunity for loop kill).

I’m often performing spinny loops with no problem and the blade has a bit more speed than your Appelgren blade.

I can’t really speak to the other blades nor can I say the acoustic will provide you with the extra oomph you think you need, but what I can say is that I still feel like I have the control to place the ball with enough pace on the longer rallies that extend past 3rd ball with the acoustic. I’m coming previously from a Yasaka Sweden classic (probably same caliber as your current blade).

I hope you could find someone with an acoustic and H3 Neo on it to try at your local club.



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Stiga Azalea Offensive or Xiom Fuga.

Do you hear loud click on the 5th ball? Have tried twiddling your racket and forehand looping with your backhand rubber? I am asking because I find Chinese hard rubbers high effort high reward deal. Two weeks ago or so, I decided to switch up some things and use Jupiter I used on forehand as backhand rubber and vice versa. It was actually easier for me to play that way to a degree, but I decided to go back and slow down my excercices and clean up my technique. After some time I felt like I discovered whole new gear in that blade. It started clicking loudly now when looping. I think there still some oomph to get out of it, but it requires a little bit more effort. My point (and kinda motto) is you might want make sure you get everything (or at least most of) from ish you have before going up.

Also, xiom offensive s is being recommended left and right, you might want to take a look at it.

I also played with Donic persson powerplay. It has about 10-15% more power I think and does not loose much of control that appelgren Allplay provides.

PS: sound I hear and vibrations I hear when smashing seem to me about a notch softer than those when looping.

The problem you have against these better players is not a lack of power. You are 1400. Almost by definition you are predictable. Better players can see where you are going to hit the ball very early on as you execute your stroke. So they just move there. Loop harder and spinnier at them and they will still be there only their blocks and counters will come back faster -- plus you will miss more.

I am certain this not not what you want to hear and you may be a bit offended. But to get better you need to grasp what better players are doing to beat you and what realistic steps you can take. Keep playing and at some point you will be 1900-2000, but then you will face the same issues with 2300-2400 players. They will beat you without seeming to have to move much and for the same reason. And equipment changes wont help you then either.

Is it worth it for you to try a faster blade? These days with 40+ balls, sure. Go ahead. The Appelgren is a great blade but. you could certainly experiment. But be realistic about what it will get you.

Dude, you do not exactly have a lot of time in service at your level or in the sport.

You could get a faster blade, ditch the H3 for a modern dynamic rubber, and keep plugging away.

Check in with us in 2 yrs and re-read this thread and see if you see stuff differently.

Like all the other comments here, it's probably too early to jump on the EJ bandwagon. When you have the basics down pat, you should be able to blast balls past your opponents even with defensive blades.

If you are set on going down the EJ discovery journey, the following progression should be feasible:

5-ply Off- blades: Butterfly Korbel/Primorac, Stiga Offensive Classic - Logical step up, but not too different, I actually recommend this section for beginners because anything less feels flimsy (to me haha).

7-ply Off-/Off: Stiga Clipper Wood, Tibhar Samsonov Force Blue - Small step up from the 5-plies, good balanced section while still preserving decent impact sensation. Some people will recommend some faster 5-plies, but to me, in order to compete those 5-plies need to be fairly thick which takes away too much feel. For middle of the road OFF blades, 7-plies feel much "clearer".

7-Ply Off/Off+: Stiga Clipper CR, Tibhar Samsonov Force Black Pro Black Edition, Andro Timber OFF/S - Starts to get subjective, some people feel its too fast, some feel its not fast enough, but in any case by this stage you will start loosing some of the "crisp, clear, penetrating" feedback on low powered shots. But gain solid satisfying "Bam Crack" feedback on high powered shots.

Composite Off+: Viscaria/Boll ALC, Xiom Stradivarius, maybe the Andro Treiber series. Different feel, harder but "duller" than all wood blades, with still just enough feedback to not hamper touch shots. This section and the OFF+ 7-plies are usually the terminal for most EJ's.

Any progression after this is for people who have good technique already but want just a little extra speed or are going after very specific "feels". Come back for a deeper discussion after trying ones from the sections above and still feel like something is lacking.

senso_ry said:

I know there is no "best" blade so hopefully if I share my playing style and experience level you can give me some suggestions.

I am around level 1400 and regularly train with much more advanced players. I use a Donic Appelgren Allplay with H3 Neo on forehand and Tenergy 05FX backhand, and my favorite strategy is to serve short with backspin then use backhand to slow-loop the 3rd ball with heavy topspin that even advanced players return far beyond the edge of the table.

This works often, but the problem is that my setup is slow so on the 5th ball, more advanced players can easily return my forehand drives even if I use my body and straight arm to hit as hard as I can. Thus I lose long rallies because advanced players with fast blades punch-block all my drives with low effort.

Do you know a blade that will be a little faster than the Appelgren Allplay while still allowing for spinny 3rd ball loops?

I was looking at:
-Butterfly Innerforce ZLF
-Nittaku Acoustic
-DHS Long 3

Also if there's anything technique or strategy related I can work on please let me know!

thanks

Click to expand...

The Hurricane 3 NEo's forehand for loop speed is excellent with the DHS Hurricane Long 5X blade.
Excellent speed with control.

I think your fh rubber and blade is a mis-match. I would be hesitant to change the blade by more than one speed level bc it is likely to make your bh less effective for a time until you adjust. And unless you are a patient person, which tbh this thread does not suggest you are, that could easily send you off into ej hell.

Maybe change your fh rubber to a euro/jap one on the allplay? Does not need to be tenergy. Any of fastarc/baracuda/hexer are still good with the plastic ball, and cheap.

And/or change the blade, but don't go past Off- speed rating. Acoustic at the most, or Sweden extra. Even OSP Virtuoso off- if you have money and spending it makes you happy, nothing wrong with that.

Unless you are having coching I'd ditch the h3 it's very hard to use well without good footwork. It will also make your set up faster

If you have sufficient technique, h3 is great. I think it suits your playing style anyway. H3 is perfect for spinny looping at any distance. With enough power and good technique, it is an insanely good rubber.

You could always improve you technique and tactics and I'm sure that's exactly what you're doing and will keep on doing. In the meantime, I do think you could benefit from a slightly faster stiffer blade especially at your level without losing on control. A 5-ply all-wood OFF- blade is the right idea, you can choose from many out there: Butterfly Korbel, Nittaku Acoustic, Stiga Azalea OFF, Xiom Offensive S, OSP Virtuoso OFF-... to name a few.

PS: The Butterfly Innerforce ZLF will not really give you the speed increase you are looking for.

senso_ry said:

Thank you for the good advice. I'm very new to the game (I started in July) so I understand that simply having more experience and knowing where my opponent will place the ball will help me as I keep playing more matches. If I can predict where the opponent will place the ball, I can reset from my previous stroke on time and attack more shots in a row, and have more time to think about where I want them to land. However, I have trained hard to make sure the body mechanics of my strokes are solid and would like to see how a faster blade would affect my game.


All of my training partners are level 2000+ so of course I don't expect to beat them any time soon, let alone by buying a new blade, but I can't help but think that using an ALL blade to learn an offensive style of play against them might be part of the problem

Click to expand...

Reading that you only started in July makes me want to take back what I said and agree with the others who commented here. Your set up could last you into 2000+ easily in my opinion- especially as an aggressive styled player.

You could increase your spin, placement, control and game strategy all while also increasing your confidence as that set up will be easy to eventually allow you to put all of your might into your shots with superb control.

At a few months in with tenergy, how’s your backhand control?

I would consider equipment change If you’re at a point where you’re consistently:
-bottoming out
-entering and not being able to finish long rallies
... while having sound stroke technique and strategy.

Well, I guess the last point you’re already complaining about... [emoji848]

If you do decide to switch, make sure your coach helps you through that period of adjustment before you go off on to tournaments or league matches.

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1400 in five months is very good. Ditch the H3. Do not buy a faster blade. Keep playing. Dont get impatient. Improvement comes in bursts followed by plateaus. It is just how it is.

(And obey The Rules of course).

Baal said:

1400 in five months is very good. Ditch the H3. Do not buy a faster blade. Keep playing. Dont get impatient. Improvement comes in bursts followed by plateaus. It is just how it is.

(And obey The Rules of course).

Click to expand...

Why ditch H3?


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@alas26, what do you exactly mean by "bottoming out"? Bottoming out the rubber or did you meant using all the power blade can provide (using max power you can generate)?

He prolly suggests ditching H3, because chinese hard rubbers are hard to play without coaching. If found them demanding in terms of technique. In my opinion if you do not brush it is hard to apply spin. For me these sponges are harder to engage than for example tensor / tensioned rubbers, so tl;dr for beginners like me "no brushy, no spinny". In my particular experience I found Big Dipper (38 degrees DHS scale) and Bluefire JP02 (45 tensor scale, about 37 or 38 dhs?) were much much easier to loop than my Jupiter 2 (38 dhs scale) (although I still prefer playing with Jupiter 2 for numerous reasons, like the way how ball travels)