Adidas Avenger Blade Series!

REVIEWS DONE ON THE 3 BLADES, UPDATED!!!!!

nope they are not the guys and a gal from marvel ! Adidas will be releasing these wonderful blades later this year. These 3 blades are composed of walnut as their outer layers, a 5 ply off- all wood, a 7 ply carbon blade and a 7 ply all wood powerhouse. The guys from Adidas have improved their blade logo quality including the quality finish of these blades. 

Avenger Series blades

Avenger 7 (OFF+) 

"The Hulk"  

- 7-ply offensive blade of hard surface and very unique construction. 6.2mm.

- Feeling : The mixture of hardness and softness. Very strong feeling.

- Proper playing style : Aggressive topspin from all area.

- Tagreted players : Skilled players who want speedy blade.

 Plies: 7 (walnut-ayous-tanne-ayous-tanne-ayous-walnut)

Weight: 92 grams (average weight is 90 grams)

Blade head dimension: 150x157mm

Thickness: 6.2mm

Vibration: Minimal

This blade has thin outer plies and a thick central ayous core. The outer walnut plies provide stiffness and speed to the blade. The ayous and tanne layers provide a feeling of softness and control to the blade. The thick central ayous core provides additional speed to the blade. 

 This is the powerhouse of the Avenger series. They rated this as OFF but its clearly OFF+. I placed a 2.0mm Adidas P5 black on this and a Dawei Sprungfeder G3 red max. I immediately started doing fh to fh drills and bh to bh drills with this beast and i noticed right away how fast it is. Lets just say its faster than a Mazunov blade, A stiga Ebenholz 7 or a Clipper CR blade but with a softer feel. Apparently, Adidas has found a way to mix both hard and soft wood layers that produces a soft feeling when doing power shots enabling control and sensitivity. Having tried a lot of 7 ply blades and collected a few 7 ply all wood blades in the past, I would say Adidas is on the right track making this kind of blade for the reason that it offers a unique option among 7 ply lovers. I would attribute the feeling of softness despite the hard outer plies to the tanne layer. Tanne as what I have read about is a Fir tree related to Cypress. The blade designer told me that it has a mixture of softness and hardness on feel, I really agree with him when I tried it. On power shots, I didn't feel the hard impact like what i felt with the Ebenholz 7, it felt a bit soft but my shots were fast especially on fh drives, smashes and spin drives. This blade is good for close-to-the-table and mid-distance shots. This is more of a hitter's and spin driver's blade rather than a pure looping blade. Though, I suggest getting a 2.0mm medium soft rubber or a chinese rubber to pair with it if you want to loop with it. I still find my shots spinny enough using the dawei and 2.0mm P5. On passive shots like blocking and drop shots, the tanne layers really help absorb the shots and provide a great amount of control. It is surprising that for a beast like the Avenger 7 it is not hard to do controlled shots. I love blocking with this both punch blocks and passive slow blocks. 

I would recommend this blade to aggressive players who do not want to use a carbon blade. It takes some skill to fully utilize this and also some muscle because this blade is a 90gm blade (-+3 or 4 grams). Also good for players who want a hard blade but doesn't want the excessive vibration produced by other hard 7 ply blades.

Avenger Carbon (OFF)

- Soft carbon blade of 5.6mm thickness. (Softer than FiberTec Classic.)

- Feeling : Feeling is very soft and comfortable. It holds ball very well.

- Proper playing style : Continuous topspin at close area to table.

- Tagreted players : Aggressive topspin players of all level.

 Plies: 7 (walnut-tanne-carbon-ayous-carbon-tanne-ayous-walnut)

Weight: 89 grams (average weight is 90 grams)

Blade head dimension: 150x157mm

Thickness: 5.6mm

Vibration: Minimal

The only carbon blade in the Avenger Series, this blade is not to be underestimated on its performance even though it is not as fast as other super or ultra fast blades in the market. For those who wants to maintain a woody feel when using a carbon blade, the Avenger Carbon is sufficient for this need. The placement of the soft carbon fleece after 2 layers instead of just after the 1st ply results to a woody feel. Adidas said they designed this blade especially for players who are close to the table attackers. This is fast maybe between the speed of a Butterfly Gergely and a Primorac carbon. The soft carbon fleece balances the harder outer walnut plies which when combined provides a soft feeling and at the same time helps make power shots. It has a large sweet spot that it gave my shots stability when I was looping close to the table. The blade has very good feel. The vibration is minimal and the sweet spot is large. Although it has similarities with the construction of a Yasaka Ma Lin Soft Carbon blade, the feeling is quite different and the speed is a lot more. It is faster than the Ma Lin SC blade and has more feel. Sometimes I would felt that the Ma Lin SC blade lack the feel compared to the Avenger Carbon. It was fun doing topspins over the table and pure looping with the Avenger carbon since this blade has a good feel and the dwell time is really good to produce spinny loops. Unlike its brute brother, the Avenger 7, the Avenger carbon was built for looping more. When I was looping the ball, it has a long trajectory mid distance from the table though this blade is more of a close to the table looping blade. Countering was very good as I felt my shots have stability including my active blocks against loops or drives. Chinese rubbers are good with the Avenger Carbon though I havent tried hard rubbers like the H3 or TG3 neos on this but a soft 36 degree Dawei SPrungfeder on the forehand and a medium soft Adidas Syntec Fast on the backhand. Soft to medium rubbers are ideal with this blade like the Adidas P5, Tenzone SF and the Syntec Series. This blade is also for players who would like to shift to a carbon blade but will not tolerate a loss of control and the woody feel coming from an off 5 or 7 ply all wood blade. 

Avenger 5 (OFF-)

- 5-ply offensive blade of hard surface and 5.9mm thickness.

- Feeling : Surface is hard. But, overall feeling is quite soft, and it holds ball very well.

- Proper playing style : Continuous topspin at close area to table.

- Tagreted players : Aggressive topspin players of all level.

  Plies: 5 (walnut-tanne-ayous-tanne-walnut)

Weight: 87 grams (average weight is 86 grams)

Blade head dimension: 150x157mm

Thickness: 5.9mm

Vibration: Minimal

The slowest among the 3 avenger but not necessarily slow. When you remove the 2 soft carbon fleece of the Avenger carbon you would get the Avenger 5. Designed with a hard walnut outer ply and a thick core of ayous with a tanne sandwiched in between, this blade offers a balance of speed and control. 

 If I am a developing player who has an all+ blade and rubber set up and wanted to shift to a faster blade to further develop my game especially on an all around basis, I would choose this blade simply because it has good sense of control and feel plus some good speed to offer. If I am an advanced player who is looking for a blade that will help my aggressive attacking game close to the table without removing control on my arsenal, this would be the blade for me. While using the max P5 on this, I really find the combo one hell of a spin maker. The Av 5 has sufficient dwell time looping is its forte. It loops better and more controllable that its Av Carbon brother due to its lesser speed and more control. Slow spinny loops are very good on a delayed contact and even off the bounce aggressive loops are powerful enough. I found this suitable for an all around based game meaning you can do a good blocking game with it then switch suddenly to an aggressive attacking game. Control is abundant in this blade its very good in the short game like flicks and drop shots. The good feel of the blade helps execute strokes that are a bit sensitive to perform during a close, hard scoring game. I would recommend medium to hard rubbers for this blade. The Adidas Tenzone, P7 and P5 pair well with the Av 5. Chinese players who use hard Chinese rubbers would also benefit greatly from this controlled looping blade.  

In conclusion, even these blades are still under development and are not available in the market, they show a great amount of promise once introduced to the market and the various necessary improvements made during testing will be implemented. Its like Adidas is making developments and improvements with each series of blades and rubbers they are introducing showing the world of table tennis that they have the equipment to compete with the top companies that presently dominate the market.