Need help selecting a carbon blade for a developing player...

[kariok]

tldr; I got used to carbon already and do not want to get back to all wood, but am thinking to double down on speed and get something which would let me learn to attack any ball confidently. I kind of settled on Rakza 7 as the rubbers, but hesitating between something like Innerforce ALC.S or Harimoto, Yasaka Ma Lin Carbon Soft, or maybe Viscaria but with slower rubbers.

Now for the long version - I'm 26, 190cm, do not really know my level, I spent most of my life playing as a hobby whenever I could (which was not very often), best-kid-in-class kind of thing, but never in a club, handball was my sport. I got into it more seriously 3 years ago when I met a friend at the university who had been training in China when she was age 6-12 My pre-made 'off' racket was no match for her, but I was very confused on what to buy.

In the end I ended up getting the Omar Assar blade (inner kevlar carbon) and Rozenas. With that I trained in some clubs for ~2 years, some university clubs, sometimes group lessons, sometimes private coaching. Trained with some great ex-semi-pro players, I could kind of keep up with them in practice, can lift backspin in regular multiball exercises ~80% of the time FH ~60-70% BH, get some flicks in on both sides ~60% of the time. But totally lack consistency and get completely destroyed in games or any exercises with uncertainty, never played any competitive leagues or tournaments. Big weakness is getting into very passive blocking under pressure, would like to get more confidence to try more aggresive or chop blocks / counter loops.

It's still mostly a hobby, and I rarely get to play more than once a week and consistently for more than a few months. Currently living in Prague and having some private lessons, but never managed to find a nice club here so don't have access to too many blades to try and opponents to play with

After a while I started to dislike the Rozena and got a Dignics 09C/80. I absolutely loved the feeling on topspins and lifting backspin, but after some time realised I have trouble in regular FH loops and blocks with the tacky rubber, and also with control on serve receives. So I decided to follow advice online and go all wood, with Stiga Cybershape Wood, first with Dignics and then Rakza 7.
While I really like the Rakza, which kind of feels like the best of both worlds from D09C/Rozena, I just could not get used to the wood, the vibration and inconsistency. I found it actually harder to control than carbon, more unpredictable how the rubber would react (I heard Dignics + wood is not the best pair). While it did help me to become more conscious of the point of the racket I'm hitting the ball with, I feel I perform too much worse in training with it and want to go back to carbon.
For now I'm back with Omar Assar, it's a dream to block with, and my topspins are more consistent. But it lost parts of the outer wood so it's a bit hard to glue rubbers. I also regret getting the big handle version, I find it difficult to flick close to the table, and I feel it messes up the weight balance, I kinda prefer it to be head heavy.

So now to the main questions:

• Does Innerforce ALC.S make sense in that case, is a thinner and softer blade really a good choice for development and getting confidence in your strokes (and yourself)?
• Or normal ALC/Harimoto would be better?
• Or maybe something super soft like Yasaka Ma Lin Carbon Soft?
• Does downgrading to Mark V or something similar make any sense with carbon blades for developing a more powerful and confident swing, or should I stick to Rakza 7 if I liked it? Rakza 7 soft felt a bit too soft/dead when I tried it on CS wood, preferred the regular.
• I got to try a Viscaria in the store when buying the Cybershape Wood, and it felt amazing. I am tempted to give it a try (R7, or mark V?), but worried that the few minutes in the store are not enough to know, Cybershape also felt good then, but not really later. Or do you recommend staying away from outer ALC? Ovtcharov ALC also felt good, but I don't want to go that fast with innerforce I think.
• Maybe sticking with Omar Assar for one more rubber change and some more improvement before jumping to Viscaria, skipping innerforce?
• Or should I rethink and give a shot to some other beginner-friendly Stiga or Nittaku Acoustic/Violin or something similar? Are they even that different from the Cybershape Wood?
• Do ZLF, ZLC or other types of fibers make any sense or should stick to ALC for now?
• My current coach says he does not like all wood either, and I should stick to carbon. Mentioned Harimoto but also was not sure, he personally likes outer ALC and thinks I could try either of them.
  I have another trip to Japan coming up soon, and everything is 2x cheaper there, so price is not a big issue. For that reason I'd prefer to stick to Japanese equipment (Butterfly, Yasaka, Nittaku etc.)

Help! Reading up on this online is so addictive, I don't want to become an equipment junkie :')

 

[Der_Echte]

Spend 30-35 Euros on a Donic Pesson Power Play blade... use it 6 months, then take your temperature, and see if you still have a fever.

 

[JJ Ng]

I love my Donic Persson Power Play blade. It is a good, fast 7-ply all wood that also has a lot of control. I have two of them, one in FL handle and another in anatomic handle. It is dirt cheap too which surprises me.

As for the original question, Ma Lin Carbon soft is very affordable. Why not get one copy of Yasaka Ma Lin Carbon soft, plus an inner carbon Butterfly blade while you are in Japan? Things are a lot cheaper there.

And isn't Harimoto inner carbon anyway?

If you set on using Rakza 7, then go ahead and put it on both sides. Rakza 7 lasts forever. It is like a good, all around rubber.

 

[Crillo]

"But totally lack consistency and get completely destroyed in games or any exercises with uncertainty, never played any competitive leagues or tournaments. Big weakness is getting into very passive blocking under pressure, would like to get more confidence to try more aggresive or chop blocks / counter loops.

It's still mostly a hobby, and I rarely get to play more than once a week and consistently for more than a few months."

Very good that you honest about your skill level. I hope you get som good advices!

 

[_ak]

Harimoto is pretty much a regular Innerforce ALC with bigger head and price tag.

You can try DHS Fang Bo B2 if you're OK with weight, not B2X, it's slower than Innerforce ALC, not sure about ALC.S. It has a pretty good feeling

 

[NetProphet]

tldr; I got used to carbon already and do not want to get back to all wood, but am thinking to double down on speed and get something which would let me learn to attack any ball confidently. I kind of settled on Rakza 7 as the rubbers, but hesitating between something like Innerforce ALC.S or Harimoto, Yasaka Ma Lin Carbon Soft, or maybe Viscaria but with slower rubbers.

Now for the long version - I'm 26, 190cm, do not really know my level, I spent most of my life playing as a hobby whenever I could (which was not very often), best-kid-in-class kind of thing, but never in a club, handball was my sport. I got into it more seriously 3 years ago when I met a friend at the university who had been training in China when she was age 6-12 My pre-made 'off' racket was no match for her, but I was very confused on what to buy.

In the end I ended up getting the Omar Assar blade (inner kevlar carbon) and Rozenas. With that I trained in some clubs for ~2 years, some university clubs, sometimes group lessons, sometimes private coaching. Trained with some great ex-semi-pro players, I could kind of keep up with them in practice, can lift backspin in regular multiball exercises ~80% of the time FH ~60-70% BH, get some flicks in on both sides ~60% of the time. But totally lack consistency and get completely destroyed in games or any exercises with uncertainty, never played any competitive leagues or tournaments. Big weakness is getting into very passive blocking under pressure, would like to get more confidence to try more aggresive or chop blocks / counter loops.

It's still mostly a hobby, and I rarely get to play more than once a week and consistently for more than a few months. Currently living in Prague and having some private lessons, but never managed to find a nice club here so don't have access to too many blades to try and opponents to play with

After a while I started to dislike the Rozena and got a Dignics 09C/80. I absolutely loved the feeling on topspins and lifting backspin, but after some time realised I have trouble in regular FH loops and blocks with the tacky rubber, and also with control on serve receives. So I decided to follow advice online and go all wood, with Stiga Cybershape Wood, first with Dignics and then Rakza 7.
While I really like the Rakza, which kind of feels like the best of both worlds from D09C/Rozena, I just could not get used to the wood, the vibration and inconsistency. I found it actually harder to control than carbon, more unpredictable how the rubber would react (I heard Dignics + wood is not the best pair). While it did help me to become more conscious of the point of the racket I'm hitting the ball with, I feel I perform too much worse in training with it and want to go back to carbon.
For now I'm back with Omar Assar, it's a dream to block with, and my topspins are more consistent. But it lost parts of the outer wood so it's a bit hard to glue rubbers. I also regret getting the big handle version, I find it difficult to flick close to the table, and I feel it messes up the weight balance, I kinda prefer it to be head heavy.

So now to the main questions:

• Does Innerforce ALC.S make sense in that case, is a thinner and softer blade really a good choice for development and getting confidence in your strokes (and yourself)?
• Or normal ALC/Harimoto would be better?
• Or maybe something super soft like Yasaka Ma Lin Carbon Soft?
• Does downgrading to Mark V or something similar make any sense with carbon blades for developing a more powerful and confident swing, or should I stick to Rakza 7 if I liked it? Rakza 7 soft felt a bit too soft/dead when I tried it on CS wood, preferred the regular.
• I got to try a Viscaria in the store when buying the Cybershape Wood, and it felt amazing. I am tempted to give it a try (R7, or mark V?), but worried that the few minutes in the store are not enough to know, Cybershape also felt good then, but not really later. Or do you recommend staying away from outer ALC? Ovtcharov ALC also felt good, but I don't want to go that fast with innerforce I think.
• Maybe sticking with Omar Assar for one more rubber change and some more improvement before jumping to Viscaria, skipping innerforce?
• Or should I rethink and give a shot to some other beginner-friendly Stiga or Nittaku Acoustic/Violin or something similar? Are they even that different from the Cybershape Wood?
• Do ZLF, ZLC or other types of fibers make any sense or should stick to ALC for now?
• My current coach says he does not like all wood either, and I should stick to carbon. Mentioned Harimoto but also was not sure, he personally likes outer ALC and thinks I could try either of them.
  I have another trip to Japan coming up soon, and everything is 2x cheaper there, so price is not a big issue. For that reason I'd prefer to stick to Japanese equipment (Butterfly, Yasaka, Nittaku etc.)

Help! Reading up on this online is so addictive, I don't want to become an equipment junkie :')

Soo much in that.
In short you seem to be overcomplicating things, equipment-centric rather than focusing on good solid technique and good basic equipment.
Your struggle seems to come to everyone who advance the equipment too quickly, they start to circle back to the beginning but with frustration and their head spinning.

Blade is most important choice, definitely.
But when you're still learning techniques then too stiff a blade makes most shots harder to execute. There are some with differing opinions on this but by and large this is the most usual outcome.
Coach telling you to stick with Carbon without telling you exactly what blade and rubbers to use for his coaching is 'get a new coach' situation as far as I'd be concerned.
My opinion is that nobody at 26 playing less than 10 yrs needs a carbon blade.
A medium fast all wood blade is all you need.

Your post focuses sooo much on equipment that I really believe you have all your energy in the wrong area and are definitely on the road to equipment junkie.
Your paragraph about sparring with ex semi pros is interesting but also showed that you are years away from that level (as am I) but kinda hints that you want to get there 'too' quickly.
It's gonna take ages!! But enjoy it.
You are in the correct path with Rakza 7. Dignics 09c is a bitch and really is a rubber for top level players and pros.
I think you need a wooden blade with a large sweet spot, to mitigate what you say about finding wood blades more inconsistent.
So my advice is to find this wooden blade with large sweet spot and planty of feedback, stick 2 Rakza 7s on it and just stick with it for a year. No changing. Learn and master that combo and focus on improving every shot in your game.
I do second that Nittaku Acoustic/Violin suggestion you make. Acoustic is plenty fast for you, Violin may be all you need but be sure to get the new bigger handle, the regular handle is small.
Thats it. Make a basic solid choice and stick with it. You'll come in in leaps and bounds

 

[Tembel]

Soo much in that.
In short you seem to be overcomplicating things, equipment-centric rather than focusing on technique and good solid/basic equipment.
Your struggle seems to come to everyone who advance the equipment too quickly, they start to circle back to the beginning but with frustration and their head spinning.

Blade is most important choice, definitely.
But when you're still learning techniques then too stiff a blade makes most shots harder to execute. There are some with differing opinions on this but by and large this is the most usual outcome.
Coach telling you to stick with Carbon without telling you exactly what blade and rubbers to use for his coaching is 'get a new coach' situation as far as I'd be concerned.
My opinion is that nobody at 26 playing less than 10 yrs needs a carbon blade.
A medium fast all wood blade is all you need.

Your post focuses sooo much on equipment that I really believe you have all your energy in the wrong area and are definitely on the road to equipment junkie.
Your paragraph about sparring with ex semi pros is interesting but also showed that you are years away from that level (as am I) but kinda hints that you want to get there 'too' quickly.
It's gonna take ages!! But enjoy it.
You are in the correct path with Rakza 7. Dignics 09c is a bitch and really is a rubber for top level players and pros.
I think you need a wooden blade with a large sweet spot, to mitigate what you say about finding wood blades more inconsistent.
So my advice is to find this wooden blade with large sweet spot and planty of feedback, stick 2 Rakza 7s on it and just stick with it for a year. No changing. Learn and master that combo and focus on improving every shot in your game.
I do second that Nittaku Acoustic/Violin suggestion you make. Acoustic is plenty fast for you, Violin may be all you need but be sure to get the new bigger handle, the regular handle is small.
Thats it. Make a basic solid choice and stick with it. You'll come in in leaps and bounds

OP's current blade actually ticks the box for wooden blade with large sweatspot. Cybershape wood is quite stable and fast enough. I believe consistency does not come with a faster carbon blade, but with sticking with something for a while.

If OP would have pointed out just one or two areas to be tweaked in a certain direction (I.e. increased confidence in the short game, or more power from mid distance). Then maybe some suggestion of trying a sticky rubber, or a bit faster blade, could be ok. But now OP is having a good and quite fast setup already and wanting to find consistency in many parts of the game, then I think just sticking with what he has is the best advice.

 

[Ash0210]

tldr; I got used to carbon already and do not want to get back to all wood, but am thinking to double down on speed and get something which would let me learn to attack any ball confidently. I kind of settled on Rakza 7 as the rubbers, but hesitating between something like Innerforce ALC.S or Harimoto, Yasaka Ma Lin Carbon Soft, or maybe Viscaria but with slower rubbers.

Now for the long version - I'm 26, 190cm, do not really know my level, I spent most of my life playing as a hobby whenever I could (which was not very often), best-kid-in-class kind of thing, but never in a club, handball was my sport. I got into it more seriously 3 years ago when I met a friend at the university who had been training in China when she was age 6-12 My pre-made 'off' racket was no match for her, but I was very confused on what to buy.

In the end I ended up getting the Omar Assar blade (inner kevlar carbon) and Rozenas. With that I trained in some clubs for ~2 years, some university clubs, sometimes group lessons, sometimes private coaching. Trained with some great ex-semi-pro players, I could kind of keep up with them in practice, can lift backspin in regular multiball exercises ~80% of the time FH ~60-70% BH, get some flicks in on both sides ~60% of the time. But totally lack consistency and get completely destroyed in games or any exercises with uncertainty, never played any competitive leagues or tournaments. Big weakness is getting into very passive blocking under pressure, would like to get more confidence to try more aggresive or chop blocks / counter loops.

It's still mostly a hobby, and I rarely get to play more than once a week and consistently for more than a few months. Currently living in Prague and having some private lessons, but never managed to find a nice club here so don't have access to too many blades to try and opponents to play with

After a while I started to dislike the Rozena and got a Dignics 09C/80. I absolutely loved the feeling on topspins and lifting backspin, but after some time realised I have trouble in regular FH loops and blocks with the tacky rubber, and also with control on serve receives. So I decided to follow advice online and go all wood, with Stiga Cybershape Wood, first with Dignics and then Rakza 7.
While I really like the Rakza, which kind of feels like the best of both worlds from D09C/Rozena, I just could not get used to the wood, the vibration and inconsistency. I found it actually harder to control than carbon, more unpredictable how the rubber would react (I heard Dignics + wood is not the best pair). While it did help me to become more conscious of the point of the racket I'm hitting the ball with, I feel I perform too much worse in training with it and want to go back to carbon.
For now I'm back with Omar Assar, it's a dream to block with, and my topspins are more consistent. But it lost parts of the outer wood so it's a bit hard to glue rubbers. I also regret getting the big handle version, I find it difficult to flick close to the table, and I feel it messes up the weight balance, I kinda prefer it to be head heavy.

So now to the main questions:

• Does Innerforce ALC.S make sense in that case, is a thinner and softer blade really a good choice for development and getting confidence in your strokes (and yourself)?
• Or normal ALC/Harimoto would be better?
• Or maybe something super soft like Yasaka Ma Lin Carbon Soft?
• Does downgrading to Mark V or something similar make any sense with carbon blades for developing a more powerful and confident swing, or should I stick to Rakza 7 if I liked it? Rakza 7 soft felt a bit too soft/dead when I tried it on CS wood, preferred the regular.
• I got to try a Viscaria in the store when buying the Cybershape Wood, and it felt amazing. I am tempted to give it a try (R7, or mark V?), but worried that the few minutes in the store are not enough to know, Cybershape also felt good then, but not really later. Or do you recommend staying away from outer ALC? Ovtcharov ALC also felt good, but I don't want to go that fast with innerforce I think.
• Maybe sticking with Omar Assar for one more rubber change and some more improvement before jumping to Viscaria, skipping innerforce?
• Or should I rethink and give a shot to some other beginner-friendly Stiga or Nittaku Acoustic/Violin or something similar? Are they even that different from the Cybershape Wood?
• Do ZLF, ZLC or other types of fibers make any sense or should stick to ALC for now?
• My current coach says he does not like all wood either, and I should stick to carbon. Mentioned Harimoto but also was not sure, he personally likes outer ALC and thinks I could try either of them.
  I have another trip to Japan coming up soon, and everything is 2x cheaper there, so price is not a big issue. For that reason I'd prefer to stick to Japanese equipment (Butterfly, Yasaka, Nittaku etc.)

Help! Reading up on this online is so addictive, I don't want to become an equipment junkie :')

Just my 2 cents of advice, many players look like pros in training but lose during gameplay, not really a skill issue but indicates a lack of game play experience. No problem with that, however I wouldn't recommend a viscaria unless you've mastered all your fundamental strokes and feel like you can produce good results in tournaments and pressure situations with easy to control equipment.You could definitely go for a Harimoto ALC with rakza 7 or rozena on both sides, still great for developing your game and gives you that margin of error that blades like Viscaria and Boll Alc don't.

 

[Lazer]

tldr; I got used to carbon already and do not want to get back to all wood, but am thinking to double down on speed and get something which would let me learn to attack any ball confidently. I kind of settled on Rakza 7 as the rubbers, but hesitating between something like Innerforce ALC.S or Harimoto, Yasaka Ma Lin Carbon Soft, or maybe Viscaria but with slower rubbers.

Now for the long version - I'm 26, 190cm, do not really know my level, I spent most of my life playing as a hobby whenever I could (which was not very often), best-kid-in-class kind of thing, but never in a club, handball was my sport. I got into it more seriously 3 years ago when I met a friend at the university who had been training in China when she was age 6-12 My pre-made 'off' racket was no match for her, but I was very confused on what to buy.

In the end I ended up getting the Omar Assar blade (inner kevlar carbon) and Rozenas. With that I trained in some clubs for ~2 years, some university clubs, sometimes group lessons, sometimes private coaching. Trained with some great ex-semi-pro players, I could kind of keep up with them in practice, can lift backspin in regular multiball exercises ~80% of the time FH ~60-70% BH, get some flicks in on both sides ~60% of the time. But totally lack consistency and get completely destroyed in games or any exercises with uncertainty, never played any competitive leagues or tournaments. Big weakness is getting into very passive blocking under pressure, would like to get more confidence to try more aggresive or chop blocks / counter loops.

It's still mostly a hobby, and I rarely get to play more than once a week and consistently for more than a few months. Currently living in Prague and having some private lessons, but never managed to find a nice club here so don't have access to too many blades to try and opponents to play with

After a while I started to dislike the Rozena and got a Dignics 09C/80. I absolutely loved the feeling on topspins and lifting backspin, but after some time realised I have trouble in regular FH loops and blocks with the tacky rubber, and also with control on serve receives. So I decided to follow advice online and go all wood, with Stiga Cybershape Wood, first with Dignics and then Rakza 7.
While I really like the Rakza, which kind of feels like the best of both worlds from D09C/Rozena, I just could not get used to the wood, the vibration and inconsistency. I found it actually harder to control than carbon, more unpredictable how the rubber would react (I heard Dignics + wood is not the best pair). While it did help me to become more conscious of the point of the racket I'm hitting the ball with, I feel I perform too much worse in training with it and want to go back to carbon.
For now I'm back with Omar Assar, it's a dream to block with, and my topspins are more consistent. But it lost parts of the outer wood so it's a bit hard to glue rubbers. I also regret getting the big handle version, I find it difficult to flick close to the table, and I feel it messes up the weight balance, I kinda prefer it to be head heavy.

So now to the main questions:

• Does Innerforce ALC.S make sense in that case, is a thinner and softer blade really a good choice for development and getting confidence in your strokes (and yourself)?
• Or normal ALC/Harimoto would be better?
• Or maybe something super soft like Yasaka Ma Lin Carbon Soft?
• Does downgrading to Mark V or something similar make any sense with carbon blades for developing a more powerful and confident swing, or should I stick to Rakza 7 if I liked it? Rakza 7 soft felt a bit too soft/dead when I tried it on CS wood, preferred the regular.
• I got to try a Viscaria in the store when buying the Cybershape Wood, and it felt amazing. I am tempted to give it a try (R7, or mark V?), but worried that the few minutes in the store are not enough to know, Cybershape also felt good then, but not really later. Or do you recommend staying away from outer ALC? Ovtcharov ALC also felt good, but I don't want to go that fast with innerforce I think.
• Maybe sticking with Omar Assar for one more rubber change and some more improvement before jumping to Viscaria, skipping innerforce?
• Or should I rethink and give a shot to some other beginner-friendly Stiga or Nittaku Acoustic/Violin or something similar? Are they even that different from the Cybershape Wood?
• Do ZLF, ZLC or other types of fibers make any sense or should stick to ALC for now?
• My current coach says he does not like all wood either, and I should stick to carbon. Mentioned Harimoto but also was not sure, he personally likes outer ALC and thinks I could try either of them.
  I have another trip to Japan coming up soon, and everything is 2x cheaper there, so price is not a big issue. For that reason I'd prefer to stick to Japanese equipment (Butterfly, Yasaka, Nittaku etc.)

Help! Reading up on this online is so addictive, I don't want to become an equipment junkie :')

BTY ALC.S is really slow and vibraty… If you like carbon blades I don’t think You would like this…

But You may be playing with a blade that is too fast for You. Donic Appelgren WC 89 is a slow outer carbon blade that feels like a carbon blade. Another one is Nittaku S-CZ. The Nittaku is a little faster.
Those are currently my 2 favorites.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[MOG]

get a yasaka ma lin carbon

one of the mist underrated blades on the market for us mortals

definitely suits a spinner

 

[Ultravisitor]

Maybe a 7 ply allwood is a good compromise.
It's stable while blocking and stiffer and faster than 5 ply.

Something like a

Stiga Clipper
Yinhe U2
Sanwei Fextra
Donic Persson Powerplay

Is plenty fast with tensors and has a different feeling then 5ply allwood

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Butterfly Omar Assar blade.

Good man, Gozo stand in attention and offer you an officer salute. You are a brave soul indeed.

 

[_ak]

Maybe a 7 ply allwood is a good compromise.
It's stable while blocking and stiffer and faster than 5 ply.

I lately feel it's not
5+2 blades can still be quite flexy, flexier than 7ply and with a better block than 5 ply.
There is a common opinion about bad feel with carbon blades. I guess it comes from early 3+2 extremely stiff blades.

Thinner ALC blades feel OK if you don't go for a really fast one. No idea about Viscaria type blades and about ZLC and different kind of fibers.

get a yasaka ma lin carbon

one of the mist underrated blades on the market for us mortals

what is the weight with 2 inverted? I personally don't like oversized heads. May be ok for your setup with pips.

 

[kariok]

Huge thanks to everyone for the advice and sorry for the late reply! Didn't get notifications for some reason.

Good man, Gozo stand in attention and offer you an officer salute. You are a brave soul indeed.

@Gozo Aruna wdym? I am unaware of any reputation the Omar Assar blade might be having ><

In the end I decided to go for Yasaka Ma Lin soft carbon. It felt great in the store already during the first shots, felt I couldn't miss. Probably because it's what I originally aimed to buy - a slower carbon blade with a regular size head. Bought both Rakzas and out of curiosity also Mark Vs for it, will write an update for how it feels for anyone reading this post later when I have played with it a bit.

But, I also loved the Stiga Energy WRB V2, after some time in the store maybe even more than the Yasaka. The confidence in it was amazing, especially on backspin shots it felt amazing to just be able to fully swing without hesitation and not to worry that the ball will go over the table. I decided against it in the end simply because Yasaka was cheaper (in Japan), but I might get it one day as my backup blade and just sell the Omar Assar and Cybershape that I curently have.

What it made me realize is that what I hated was not wooden blades in general - it was fast wooden blades. Cybershape wood, Stiga Clipper, Nittaku Acoustic, they all felt less controllable than carbon to me, no matter whether 5ply or 7ply. I believe it's because the speed coming from the vibration and flex of the wood felt kinda like the kick you get from high tension tensor rubbers, unpredictable and less consistent than carbon. Similar story with Harimoto/inner ALC, felt the speed was unpredictable.
If any beginner/intermediate players ever finds this, my advice would be: please start with a slower all-round wood blade first. Then I would personally recommend to skip fast wood and instead go to slow carbon once you feel you've developed enough and the wood is not enough (unless of course you decide you love the wooden feel, and tryout the blade before buying). And only after that to outer carbon - probably that is, I'm not there yet so cannot say for sure 🤐

That was my learning for the day, thanks for the help to everyone again and I will post a 6month/1year update if I can!

 

[kariok]

One more thing I wish I heard when I was just starting - I had the misconception that I need an OFF blade if I am already sure my style is aggressive attacking, even if I am just a beginner.
What I didn't realize is that speed of the racket does two things:
1) It makes it harder to control, so by definition you will get a bit less shots on the table especially at the beginning.
2) It increases the quality of those shots that do make it to the other side. Meaning, your practice partners will have problems returning them. So you will think your level is higher than it actually is, and you will need high-level opponents to return those fast shots. But they will not want to play with you because of 1).

So you end up in this loop where 1) you don't get a lot of rallies and 2) those you do get are very short, so you're never actually practicing except with a coach. You end up going for those instant-kill shots and get a bad habit of never expecting the ball to come back, or you tend to hold back to keep the rally going, and either get destroyed after a passive block or drop backspin into the net because your stroke was not confident enough.

Hope some confused beginners will get to read this!