Burning Through Blades, Like Chanting 300 Tang Poems, Part 1
To see a thousand miles, climb one more story of the tower.
To see farther scenery, you must climb a higher floor. Generally, if a player has not played many blades, you should not give too much credence to his momentary feel of a blade — it may just be a whim. It must be those who have played enough blades, thought deeply, and have their own logic who are reliable. Because only when you have seen enough do you know what is truly good and bad.
For example, only after playing the Butterfly custom Vis can you better appreciate the high-grade energy-storage feel of outer aramid-carbon blades. The more you fire, the harder it bites the ball, with bigger give-and-take. Compared with Loki’s Zhou Yu custom: if you have not played a higher-grade one, you would find that explosiveness and deformation tension really easy to produce, crisp-springy yet ball-holding too. But with the custom Vis for comparison, you would find the Zhou Yu custom’s feel a bit thin, its energy-storage ceiling not so high.
The swallows before the halls of Wang and Xie now fly into ordinary homes.
Extended meaning: precious things once enjoyed only by the upper class or a few elites are now widespread, entering ordinary people’s daily life. Now at any hall, even primary-school kids know “Heima Talks Table Tennis” and use the 968. Even my kid, who just started learning, wants to buy a Fan Zhendong ALC. Today, national players’ blades are no longer mysterious to us. Only the customs Butterfly players use are harder to get. The rest — whether the 968 series or precious things like the gold-label Vis — have long been familiar to the public; many have even played them.
The bright moon shines among the pines; the clear spring flows over the stones.
Ethereal, clear landscapes; a serene, leisurely heart. This can almost be your psychological feel playing certain blades. For example the Destiny Carbon — that clear feel unique to Stiga’s wood-cabin craft, the huge sweet spot and high error-tolerance, bringing you a refreshing, bright feel at the same time. Butterfly’s Boll 70th Anniversary, though a different flavor, paired with easy-to-drive Tenergy on both sides, combines a deep wrapping feel and strong spin ability, with a mellow feel — you cannot put it down.
The setting sun is infinitely fine, only it is near dusk.
The scenery under the setting sun is beautiful, but alas it is near dusk. This is like a portrait of a usually-tired middle-aged or older player using the W968. That forehand swing is sheer lightning. The explosive energy, high deformation and accelerating second bounce are captivating. But after two or three games, you feel a bit out of stamina. Being young is good!
At dawn I leave White Emperor amid colored clouds; a thousand li to Jiangling, returned in a day.
The mood of bidding farewell to old gloom and welcoming a new beginning. Back in 2017, I was still using a custom Innerforce ALC. But that one had a Boll Spark handle, on the thin side, and the backhand felt not stable enough. Change the handle? I feared ruining the original flavor. Buy new? At that time Butterfly customs had been discontinued in 2016, so finding a suitable inner custom was quite hard. Later, at the end of 2017, when the Maharu Yoshimura Limited ordered from Japan was about to reach my hands, I thought of this poem. I knew its structure and handle both suited me, finally solving my distress. So my mood was joyful.