Stiga Dynasty (Special Xu Xin Edition)
Weight: 89 grams
Plies: 7(Koto-Textreme+ - ayous-ayous)
Thickness: 5.79mm
Speed: Off to Off+Hardness: Medium Stiff
Finally after a few months of waiting for this blade, I have it in my hands! So much hype has been going around with this blade because it started out as a blade named, “Coming Soon”. It was even colored purple or violet before which I heard Xu Xin did not like and so the color design was changed to brown. Stiga also introduced an upgraded version of Textreme which is Textreme+. The pricing is different in some areas. Although the regular and Xu Xin versions are priced 240 euros and 270 euros respectively, I know an area who sells the regular version at a much cheaper price. The Dynasty Carbon Xu Xin blade is a finely constructed blade. It has a slightly different look from the regular Dynasty because due to the logo that is designed by Xu Xin and his wife. Also, the Xu Xin version has a logo and autographed design on the blade surface. People have been speculating about its construction. Some think that it looks like limba for its outer plies but Stiga says it is koto. At first look, the colored outer plies can be mistaken as limba due to the lines of the wood but upon closer inspection, you can see the scales of the koto wood. You can check it in one of the pictures I posted above. Stiga also says that they designed the blade with a thicker core. The wood layers next to the core and even the top plies are very thinly constructed. I tried bouncing the ball on the bare blade and it has a semi high pitched sound. The bounce is fairly high. It has its bounciness but it is not high as compared to Carbonado 245 or 290. To be honest, the feeling of the blade is kinda unique or different. It does not feel like any other Stiga blade I have owned or used. It has stiffness but does not feel too stiff or too hard. The stiffness is between Viscaria and TBS blade. Anyway, I used Hurricane 2 boosted, Genesis 2 M max, a used Calibra LT Sound and an ESN rubber. The DCXX blade is a very bouncy blade but it does not feel as fast as hinoki pure carbon blades but rather in the level of carbon-arylate blades for its speed class. You can feel the power of the blade when you are hitting or drilling with it. It has a semi-long trajectory when you are looping with it. I would say the speed is more or less a notch faster than TBS and definitely faster than Viscaria. If I compare it to other Viscaria, it is definitely faster. One thing you can definitely feel about the blade is that it feels like an all wood blade. Stiga has produced blades that have woody feel but this has a new level of woody feel. The textreme+ material is so thin you almost cannot feel it that it is there, which for me, is a good thing because the feedback on the hand is really good. The sweetspot is quite big. This is probably due to the improved textreme+ material. I bounced the ball on the blade and sweetspot seem to be up to 1 inch before the edge of the blade approximately. I did not get any bad vibrations and my hand had not felt any whether I was hitting the ball or looping it. You can feel the power of your shots. I was drilling my loops with it and the arc is a semi-long. The Hurricane 3 gave me a bit of adjustment because the arc for it was too low. Maybe it was the boosting that I added to the rubber but the Hurricane 3 was hitting the net and I had to adjust a little bit. I changed my forehand rubber with the Genesis 2 M and it was really good. The combination suited really well because it was very easy looping or driving with it. With the Hurricane 3, the spin was really good and the dwell was there but when I was hitting the ball and compressing the sponge, the arc was very low. This can be overcome by just adjusting to it or probably the rubber was over boosted. With the Genesis 2 M, it made no adjustments. The Genesis 2 M is a Chinese rubber but it felt like I was using an ESN rubber. The arc was medium and I had no difficulty adjusting to the arc. With the ESN rubber and the Calibra LT Sound, attacking with the DCXX blade is very easy. The blade can compete in terms of power and speed on any distance from the table. The DCXX is a blade where the performance is a sum of all its parts. Since this is a blade that has an all-wood feel, you can have a very good control with it even with fast shots. With its sufficient power, you will not ask for more even if you are far from the table. This is a do all blade. It acts as if it is an off+ blade but the control is in the level of off- blades. Even with delicate and short shots like drop shots or flicks, no adjustments for me were really made. Anyway, the blade pairs and works well with almost all kinds of rubbers. For the Chinese rubber, I think I have I have to use another Hurricane 3 with just to make sure that the one I used was the problem. It does favor hard rubbers or medium hard rubbers. With the Genesis 2 M, no problem using with and in fact I love the Genesis 2 M with it. The blade has enough flex and because of its flex I would suggest not to use rubbers that are too soft. For you to maximize the blade, I think you should not go belowe medium soft rubbers for the rubber hardness. It is a very tamed blade. It may be fast but control is really good coupled with an awesome unique feel. Since this is not too fast for most people, I can safely say that even intermediate level players can use this provided that they have slower or thinner rubbers paired with the Dynasty Carbon blade.
Stiga Def Pro
Weight: 81 grams
Thickness: 5.15mm
Plies: 7 (Colored limba or Walnut?? - textreme carbon - ayous -ayous)
Hardness: Medium
Speed: ALL+
Stiga Def Classic
Weight: 73 grams
Thickness: 5.2mmPlies: 5 (limba -ayous - ayous)
Hardness: Medium soft
Speed: Def+ to All-
The Stiga Defensive and Defensive pro are two of the defensive blades from Stiga that has introduced recently and these 2 blades are a first after probably 10 years?? of Stiga not releasing any defensive blades. I think Stiga has focused more on all around to offensive blades. It is only now that they produced these 2 blades for the public to enjoy and use. I have my fair share of defensive blades but only used it as a tool for coaching players on how to deal and play against them. I can only chop mostly using my forehand and not much for the backhand consistently. I can chop 2-3 topspin balls away from from the table a bit more because the DP has more bounce and power.
I will just talk about the 2 blades’ capabilities in general. If you are a beginner chopper, get the Defensive Classic because it is very controllable and gives you enough space for errors especially on defensive chops. Blocking or chop blocking are already very easy with this blade and the DC is more of a blade that will be a good tool to develop chopping skills. If you are a pure blocker with either medium or long pips on either side then this will work too. It excels also in chop blocking or slicing against topspin above the table. In my opinion you would need a Long pimple that has at least 0.6mm with the DC since it would be too slow far from the table. The Def Pro on the other hand is for a skilled chopper because it gives you enough power for faster shots and also when I asked somebody who is a skilled chopper, I could see the blade chopping very heavy underspin balls with a little more speed unlike the DC blade where the chops are slow. You can chop with OX Lp rubbers on the DP but if you are skilled enough using the one with .5 or .6mm sponge is also great away from the table. I guess for polyballs and with higher level players, the DP is the one that I can really recommend. When I was looping with the DP it has good speed as if I am looping using an Offensive Classic blade. With the Def Classic, the ball was kinda slow even if you loop the ball on the rise. One thing the DC excels in is the touch and control of delicate drop shots and
(well technically I can, but my mind cant afford that).
Stiga Def Classic
