Viscaria Super ALC release!

UpSideDownCarl said:

I have quoted the applicable part of my post that it seems you have failed to understand.

For the rest, read NDH's posts. BTW: I remember the footage I have seen of you. You definitely did not have the technique to have anything close to the kind of impact power on contact that I am referring to in the quote from me above. Nor do most players on the forum. However, from footage I have seen I would venture a guess that NDH seems to have it.

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Michael Zhuang said:

To me, the ZJK SZLC is far more linear than the HL5. HL5 is slow on slow and medium shots, and suddenly ramps up in power on faster shots. According to your definition, this is precisely "non-linear". HL5 is popular with top players it seems, and from my experience playing with it, its very easy to use to hit powerful shots. I can get very spinny and powerful loops out of it. So the non-linearity of a blade doesn't seem to turn off pro players. And it certainly doesn't make it hard to use.

I believe Lin YunJu uses SZLC. SZLC blade, in my experience, is more linear than HL5. It is much stiffer than HL5, and i guess its more predictable. Here, Kenta Matsudaira compares some butterfly blades and he seems to have the same conclusion as me. SZLC is direct and linear, it flies off the blade directly and quickly. And he also says its the most difficult blade to loop with, I guess because there is less flex and dwell time. In the video, you can see that Kenta misses a number of loops with the SZLC and seems surprised by it. Later he backs up and tries distance loops. He initially guessed SZLC would be best, because of the power, but it ended being very difficult for him to do distance loops as well. My experience is consistent with Kenta's comments, the blade is quite stiff and hard to loop with.

So, my point is: I can see why your friend didn't like using the SZLC. But "non linear" being the reason doesn't seem consistent to me. I had trouble looping with SZLC, as does Kenta, and maybe your friend too. I don't have trouble looping with HL5 at all. In fact I find it the best looping blade.

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UpSideDownCarl said:

Sorry. But, when you are as good as this guy who was sponsored by Butterfly, you could comment on what he specifically told me was the reason he felt the SZLC was not a viable blade. But, your technique is so different from his that there are things he can feel that you have ABSOLUTELY no ability to understand. And, unfortunately, TT is actually a little like that. Someone who really knows how generating crazy impact power on contact while generating massive spin on the ball, they are doing something different than most amateurs. You know enough to know that there are people who don't understand TT technique well enough to understand how you generate the spin you do. Well, most of us are in that category in relation to players who are at a seriously high level of play.

That you can name a small handful of players you think are using a SZLC does not say much about the VAST number of top pros who ARE NOT USING SZLC and are instead using the simple old ALC.

But, as NDH said, by all means, buy one and have fun with it. Just don't think it will cause you to improve. Training, match-play and experience are what causes players to improve.

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Well again, I'm not disagreeing with you at all. I don't find the S-ZLC to be a good blade. I said that is is hard to use. I have no plan to buy it. I can see most top pros prefer ALC. I personally find it hard to use and hard to loop with, as does Kenta Matsudaira.

The only part I disagree with is the classification of "non-linear" to be the reason the blade is hard to use. Being too direct and stiff is the reason I would cite as the reason it is hard to use. Those are also the reasons that Kenta and TTD Dan also cited in their critique against the S-ZLC. Kenta is certainly "good enough" as you say to make a comment on the blade. His cited reason makes sense with my own experience. That is just my point.

Michael Zhuang said:

Actually you are right, I have no idea what you mean about ALC being more stable than Super ALC or vice versa. I guess over the next year or two, we shall see. If FZD, LGY, TB and other top players using ALC stick with ALC, you will be proven right.

If they gradually switch to S-ALC, then you will be proven wrong. I am completely neutral to the subject, as I have no plan on buying S-ALC or any BTY product.

But if you put a gun to my head, I would guess that some pros will switch to S-ALC because the trend seems to be wanting slightly more power and spin.

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This is fair and I am happy to wait and see even though I am happy using what I use so am not looking for new equipment these days.

olzetezkarzo said:

it's possible he was already in a contract with butterfly but he changed the handle to another to send a deeper message.....like "I CAN'T PLAY WITH ANYTHING ELSE THAN VISCARIA".

that's the perfect marketing there.

In reality he could play with a palio tct probably lol

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He was in contract with Stiga for several years while using a Viscaria with an Infinity handle. Every so often he would break a blade and pull a backup out of his bag and was out of ones with the Infitinty handle and so, he used A VISCARIA WITH A VISCARIA HANDLE.

It was not for a few months. It was not for one year. It was not for 2 or 3 years. It was from 2012 till he ended his contract with Stiga and signed a contract with Butterfly. When did he sign with Butterfly? Does anybody know the actual date? Was it in 2020? 2021? I guess it does not matter if it was 8 or 9 years. But it was longer than 7 years for sure.

The whole time he was sponsored by Stiga he was using a Viscaria with an Infinity handle. And Stiga had tons of adds out asserting that FZD was using the Infinity. But he NEVER did use it.

DukeGaGa said:

Oh man, that's some serious discussion going on here. lol

I tried out the blade yesterday for the first time, trained for about 2 hours or so. I liked the blade in softer shots, i.e. serve, push and other things that don't require much power output, but I find it a bit hard to control when looping heavy downspin.

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Do you find it to be faster and flexier than regular ALC?

Dream2K said:

An ALC blades earns one extra point per game compared to an all-wood blade. Truls's blade gains one more point than ALC. And now SALC gains one more point than even Cybershape! Thus, by my count, 3 points are gained without any training besides a short term adjustment to a new blade.

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SFF_lib said:

You will lose 3 extra points if you can’t control it [emoji23]

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Oops, I forgot to read the small print again.

UpSideDownCarl said:

He was in contract with Stiga for several years while using a Viscaria with an Infinity handle. Every so often he would break a blade and pull a backup out of his bag and was out of ones with the Infitinty handle and so, he used A VISCARIA WITH A VISCARIA HANDLE.

It was not for a few months. It was not for one year. It was not for 2 or 3 years. It was from 2012 till he ended his contract with Stiga and signed a contract with Butterfly. When did he sign with Butterfly? Does anybody know the actual date? Was it in 2020? 2021? I guess it does not matter if it was 8 or 9 years. But it was longer than 7 years for sure.

The whole time he was sponsored by Stiga he was using a Viscaria with an Infinity handle. And Stiga had tons of adds out asserting that FZD was using the Infinity. But he NEVER did use it.

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Though I do not know exactly when he signed on with Butterfly, they announced his joining on November 1st, 2021 though Twitter, Instragram, Facebook, and website.

Michael Zhuang said:

To me, the ZJK SZLC is far more linear than the HL5. HL5 is slow on slow and medium shots, and suddenly ramps up in power on faster shots. According to your definition, this is precisely "non-linear". HL5 is popular with top players it seems, and from my experience playing with it, its very easy to use to hit powerful shots. I can get very spinny and powerful loops out of it. So the non-linearity of a blade doesn't seem to turn off pro players. And it certainly doesn't make it hard to use.

I believe Lin YunJu uses SZLC. SZLC blade, in my experience, is more linear than HL5. It is much stiffer than HL5, and i guess its more predictable. Here, Kenta Matsudaira compares some butterfly blades and he seems to have the same conclusion as me. SZLC is direct and linear, it flies off the blade directly and quickly. And he also says its the most difficult blade to loop with, I guess because there is less flex and dwell time. In the video, you can see that Kenta misses a number of loops with the SZLC and seems surprised by it. Later he backs up and tries distance loops. He initially guessed SZLC would be best, because of the power, but it ended being very difficult for him to do distance loops as well. My experience is consistent with Kenta's comments, the blade is quite stiff and hard to loop with.

So, my point is: I can see why your friend didn't like using the SZLC. But "non linear" being the reason doesn't seem consistent to me. I had trouble looping with SZLC, as does Kenta, and maybe your friend too. I don't have trouble looping with HL5 at all. In fact I find it the best looping blade.

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Revisiting this: yeah, sorry. I guess I did not pay the correct attention to your post. It is true. It is possible that they used different words but meant the same thing.

I've not been following the equipment reaction side of things too much over the last 10 years....

But, I remember when ZLC was introduced, and it was marketed as a "better" material than ZLC (I think?)

Then Super ZLC came out and that was the holy grail of all carbon blades..... With a price tag to make you think it MUST be amazing if it's that expensive.

And yet, here we are..... many years down the line with ALC still the most popular carbon material with professionals and amateurs alike.

.

PingBirdPong said:

It’s finally out! Now it’s time to marvel at other people’s SALCs and be depressed that I’m to poor to get my own! Yay!

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It's better to wait for the Super Saiyajin Viscaria (Golden) anyway.

NDH said:

I've not been following the equipment reaction side of things too much over the last 10 years....

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