if you misread the serve only anti or long pips can save you and even that is not certain. hurricane or springy rubber, it will just fly off.
It could just be my bias, but my experience is that Hurricane 3 is WAY better in the serve-receive game than any tensor rubber. I think most people here would agree with that as well. It's not nearly as bouncy, so it's much more forgiving if you don't read the spin correctly. You personally might dump the ball in the net because it's slower than tensors, but that's an issue of not being accustomed to it.
hmmm i diagree that you have to have 100% correct timing and positioning to do well with hurricane. in fact, timing and positioning is important with any rubber. if you are off, your shot will be off, doesn't matter the rubber. More catapult doesnt always mean more forgivenes either. what if you misread your opponents serve and your springy rubber pops the ball up high for your opponent to kill on the 3rd ball?
I do agree that hurricane is not for everyone though. only the people that want to have the most fun
Agreed -- Hurricane is not for everyone. It is best for people who can hit with strength. If you feel like you can hit with power, then you should go for it. Even if you don't end up liking it I think it's worth trying -- a sheet is like $20, it won't break the bank.
Another benefit of Hurricane 3 is that you won't have to change it as you progress -- you can keep playing with it at a very high level. With tensor rubbers, you can't go to Tenergy right away because it's very hard to control, so you'll need to start with something like Rakza 7 and then switch to Rozena and then switch to Fastarc and then finally switch to Tenergy as your skill increases.
Also, as mentioned earlier, I think most people agree that Hurricane 3 is SIGNIFICANTLY better and more controllable in the serve-receive game than tensors. This is regarded as one of the major pros of playing with tacky Chinese rubber.
This is only about the blade. Everyone has different preferences. But I have to say, I would not put good control and Ma Lin Extra Offensive in the same sentence.
To me, that blade is hard as a rock and pretty unforgiving. It may work better for penhold players than for shakehand players. But, to me, the different Ma Lin Extra Offensive blades that I tried, they all were very hard. The top ply is hard. The sweet spot was small. And the dwell time was really as short as I have felt. Now, I have not tried a Ma Lin Extra Offensive in over a decade. But I can think of lots of blades I would consider to have good control with the same speed.
I think the Ma Lin EO blade has a very particular kind of feeling. Some people really end up liking it, and I think these people then go on to play with very hard outer-carbon constructions. Also, I think it pairs best with tacky Chinese rubbers (Skyline 2 in particular, but Hurricane 3 works too). Rakza 7 also works well but tensors generally don't feel great on it to me. If you get Ma Lin EO I'd advise putting tacky Chinese rubbers on it (as Ma Lin did).
It definitely does work better for penholders (it was designed for Ma Lin, after all) but I think it works well for shakehand too. Although I currently play penhold, my first blade was Ma Lin EO in shakehand FL style with Hurricane 3 both sides, and it's still my preferred shakehand setup.
Ma Lin EO excels at flicking, blocking, and loop-killing. Slow looping is not its forte. It suits a playing style that is centered around powerful attacks and fast blocks.
I think there are two main type of players
1) Limba top ply fans (softer wood)
2) Koto top ply fans (harder wood)
I played with Nittaku Acoustic and for me it was absolutely uncontrolable. It just shot the ball on it's own, both in short game and topspins, especially backhand.
I agree with this assessment of two types of players. I think type (2) players are the kind who will appreciate Ma Lin Extra Offensive -- a very hard (but also very flexible) blade. As a type (2) player I can't control Acoustic or other limba blades very well, and I find that they feel too soft and mushy -- that's just my experience. Many type (1) players find blades like Acoustic to be very controllable.
Walnut (the top ply of Ma Lin EO) is harder than koto. Rosewood and ebony are even harder than walnut.
Penholders seem to be almost entirely type (2), unless they play with pips. Shakehand players are more mixed.
But
@Pong Learner unless you know which kind of blade you prefer, Ma Lin EO is a good place to start. It'll push you to be more of a type (2) player. Avalox P-500 is also a good type (2) blade. If you feel you are more type (1) and want a limba top-ply, go for Tibhar Stratus Power Wood. You'll probably try both a hard blade and a soft blade at some point during your career, and if you really like one more than the other you can switch.
