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I'm an EJ that has tried quite a few rubbers, and my favorite is Spin Mystic (SM) from https://cstabletennis.com/product/rubbers/smooth-rubber/spin-mystic/
They are a US company that design (spec'ed out?) rubbers and blades and have them made in China.
I'm about 1300 level 53 year old guy and I was about 700 a year and a half ago, so I'm improving faster than anyone in our club. I would be better, but I had a very unconventional game and it feels like I'm making the slowest progress even though I improve every time I play. I play 2-4 times a week. Anyway, I wanted to give some background as I'm not an expert, but I'm recently a basement player transitioning to intermediate (?) who is obsessed with tt. Maybe this describes a bunch of you too?
Anyway, I've used this rubber on a number of blades for both FH and BH, Viscaria, Acoustic, Acoustic Inner Carbon (my current blade), Ma Lin Soft Carbon and Carbon, Treiber FO, Sweden Extra, Yinhe 11, and a few others! Rubbers I've used D05, D09C, Rakza 7, H3 (for 9 montns), some DHS rubbers, Rasanter R40, and a few others. I've also tried a bunch of other player's setups.
First off, the rubber is always on sale. Around Xmas I got it for $17 shipped per sheet. It's $25 on sale now, but you can get 15%-20% off through email and website offers, so it's very reasonable. I paid $100 per sheet for D05 when it came out!
What I love about this rubber is that it is very linear. There is no catapult. I can serve and push short very easily. Blocks are so much easier. Honestly, you'd think the rubber is dead compared with almost all of the rubbers today. So when you first try it, you'd think it wasn't fast. Start making active swings and you see it's speed. It's a fast rubber when you make a proper swing (incorporate a little body at the right time, etc). You don't need a big swing, just timing. I hit as hard or harder than anyone at my club (we have players only up to about 2000). I don't use my Viscaria because it's a little too fast for me at my current level with this rubber!
It is not a tacky rubber, which I like because there is less maintenance with cleaning like H3, although I do clean it once a session (3 hours). It doesn't feel grippy like D05. D05 has that sandpaper-y feel. I will say that it spins very well. I often have opponents mentioning the ball "jumping" and such.
I'd say the hardness is a medium hard...? I have a difficult time describing it because it has good dwell time, but doesn't feel soft if that makes any sense. I finally switched away from H3 because it stopped being sticky after about 2 months, and I felt like if I didn't drive the ball well, there wasn't much spin on my shots. If you are trying to hit with medium effort on H3, that hard sponge still needs to be depressed to make some spin. SM doesn't have that problem. I don't think I've ever bottomed out the rubber while smashing, and I've broken a ball before.
Honestly, there's nothing I don't like about it. I will say that I've let a few club member try my setup and they haven't bought any! I think it's because they are used to soft/short shots requiring so little movement or maybe loose, dead hands? The first few they try don't make it over the net. Actually, just counters for them are probably almost passive. My buddy's setup was a ZLC plus D05/D80 and you barely touch the ball and it's off the table. I don't know how he can handle a fast long serve to his backhand. The nice thing is that you can work on your stroke and be relaxed with a larger motion and you don't get punished. That said, I'm currently working on shortening my stroke so I can improve recovery times.
Oh, I guess there is one thing I've noticed is that maybe is a drawback. With D05 I almost noticed an "autospin" quality with it. Doing fast practice drives, you barely have to move (both for speed and spin) as it really reverses the spin coming in well. It also has so much catapult. So, for those shots, D05 allows you to relax and basically stick your racket out and it does the rest. With SM, you need to do more movement. - a little forearm and a little more wrist.
Hopefully that's helpful to someone. I don't see any reviews of it anywhere except for mine on Revspin and I posted once on Reddit where I was called a shill for the company. (I'm not, I don't know the company and have never been contacted by them.) If you have any questions, let me know!
--Andreas
They are a US company that design (spec'ed out?) rubbers and blades and have them made in China.
I'm about 1300 level 53 year old guy and I was about 700 a year and a half ago, so I'm improving faster than anyone in our club. I would be better, but I had a very unconventional game and it feels like I'm making the slowest progress even though I improve every time I play. I play 2-4 times a week. Anyway, I wanted to give some background as I'm not an expert, but I'm recently a basement player transitioning to intermediate (?) who is obsessed with tt. Maybe this describes a bunch of you too?
Anyway, I've used this rubber on a number of blades for both FH and BH, Viscaria, Acoustic, Acoustic Inner Carbon (my current blade), Ma Lin Soft Carbon and Carbon, Treiber FO, Sweden Extra, Yinhe 11, and a few others! Rubbers I've used D05, D09C, Rakza 7, H3 (for 9 montns), some DHS rubbers, Rasanter R40, and a few others. I've also tried a bunch of other player's setups.
First off, the rubber is always on sale. Around Xmas I got it for $17 shipped per sheet. It's $25 on sale now, but you can get 15%-20% off through email and website offers, so it's very reasonable. I paid $100 per sheet for D05 when it came out!
What I love about this rubber is that it is very linear. There is no catapult. I can serve and push short very easily. Blocks are so much easier. Honestly, you'd think the rubber is dead compared with almost all of the rubbers today. So when you first try it, you'd think it wasn't fast. Start making active swings and you see it's speed. It's a fast rubber when you make a proper swing (incorporate a little body at the right time, etc). You don't need a big swing, just timing. I hit as hard or harder than anyone at my club (we have players only up to about 2000). I don't use my Viscaria because it's a little too fast for me at my current level with this rubber!
It is not a tacky rubber, which I like because there is less maintenance with cleaning like H3, although I do clean it once a session (3 hours). It doesn't feel grippy like D05. D05 has that sandpaper-y feel. I will say that it spins very well. I often have opponents mentioning the ball "jumping" and such.
I'd say the hardness is a medium hard...? I have a difficult time describing it because it has good dwell time, but doesn't feel soft if that makes any sense. I finally switched away from H3 because it stopped being sticky after about 2 months, and I felt like if I didn't drive the ball well, there wasn't much spin on my shots. If you are trying to hit with medium effort on H3, that hard sponge still needs to be depressed to make some spin. SM doesn't have that problem. I don't think I've ever bottomed out the rubber while smashing, and I've broken a ball before.
Honestly, there's nothing I don't like about it. I will say that I've let a few club member try my setup and they haven't bought any! I think it's because they are used to soft/short shots requiring so little movement or maybe loose, dead hands? The first few they try don't make it over the net. Actually, just counters for them are probably almost passive. My buddy's setup was a ZLC plus D05/D80 and you barely touch the ball and it's off the table. I don't know how he can handle a fast long serve to his backhand. The nice thing is that you can work on your stroke and be relaxed with a larger motion and you don't get punished. That said, I'm currently working on shortening my stroke so I can improve recovery times.
Oh, I guess there is one thing I've noticed is that maybe is a drawback. With D05 I almost noticed an "autospin" quality with it. Doing fast practice drives, you barely have to move (both for speed and spin) as it really reverses the spin coming in well. It also has so much catapult. So, for those shots, D05 allows you to relax and basically stick your racket out and it does the rest. With SM, you need to do more movement. - a little forearm and a little more wrist.
Hopefully that's helpful to someone. I don't see any reviews of it anywhere except for mine on Revspin and I posted once on Reddit where I was called a shill for the company. (I'm not, I don't know the company and have never been contacted by them.) If you have any questions, let me know!
--Andreas
