OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I seem to hit a plateau and, of course, it's all equipment's fault, not mine . I'm an OX blocker with the rating of 1850 (US). I don't play tournaments too much but play all the time with a lot of guys who are between 2000 and 2300. So when I'm "on", I give them a run for the money. The last couple of months have been tough, though, so I began to experiment. I used to play with NSD/Talon. Switched to Kungfu/dtecs and now to Donic Alligator/ dtecs. Question for you: what's your current setup and its advantages/ disadvantages? I would appreciate your advice.

Yes, yes, we all know it's an equipment fault

I am reasonably settled with my Defplay/Dornenglanz combo (see signature), as I think today it gives me the most comfort and troubles my opponents. I find that on LP side serve receive is reliable, blocks are consistent, bumps/punches are improving and hitting is adequate (need to practice it more). Again, at my level mistakes are mostly due to technique/touch, so perhaps one reason I think it works best for me is that I played with it for ~6 months.

Regarding plateau - I suspect it's likely that your opponents figured you out, or, in other words, they got better at playing against your style. I sometimes run into 2000+ players who are troubled by pips, and our matches are much closer than they should be given the rating difference. I would expect them to become better as they play you over and over, that's just how it works. I believe you need new tricks, mostly in placement, spin variation, and tactical sense.

I am slightly below you in level, so take it with a grain of salt.

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USATT: 1807 | League: 1887

I hope this thread gets some attention.....! But in addition to setups it would be interesting to read how others deal with plateaus. Or taking the "next step" with LP. (besides more "practice")

I'm in almost the exact same situation as the OP. I'm playing a more varied....generally higher level of player and it seems everything that used to "work" no longer does. Same thing....when I'm "on" I can give higher rated players a decent game.

I've been using an Appelgren allplay with DG OX. I mainly chop.....it's fun but am trying to transition to a more table oriented game. (Reason: age)

Here's the thing: In addition to consistency...higher rated players tend to be quicker and/or anticipate better....and while placement is always key....my balls seem too slow. Therefore, I'm thinking of using something quicker.

I found NSD/ GD to be a good "aggressive" combo for playing long pushes to the edges of the table. As such, it lacks control as a lot of balls inevitably go over the table. Alligator/ dtecs excels in touch and placement but a lot of times the pushes are just too easy for an attacker. Here lies the conundrum...

[quote="treetop"]I hope this thread gets some attention.....! But in addition to setups it would be interesting to read how others deal with plateaus. Or taking the "next step" with LP. (besides more "practice")

I'm in almost the exact same situation as the OP. I'm playing a more varied....generally higher level of player and it seems everything that used to "work" no longer does. Same thing....when I'm "on" I can give higher rated players a decent game.

I've been using an Appelgren allplay with DG OX. I mainly chop.....it's fun but am trying to transition to a more table oriented game. (Reason: age)

Here's the thing: In addition to consistency...higher rated players tend to be quicker and/or anticipate better....and while placement is always key....my balls seem too slow. Therefore, I'm thinking of using something quicker.
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Just this week I put the ox 388d on a wosik senso carbon and against a very spinny higher level player dominated the game.The carbon has 1 wood ply over it so the spin reversal was massive and he said afterwards that the ball was coming so quickly back that he often didn`t have enough time to react ,I also found that the pips had very low spin sensitivity compared to when I use them on the Defplay.I then tried them against a lesser player with less spin making and the pips were not as effective but the f/h was miles better(t05 1.9)and this is probably the way forward for me next season when we will move up a division,chop blocking with the pips but covering more table with f/h

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Tsp Black Balsa 3.0 Tenergy 05 1.9 388d ox black

iwth ox LP
it must have stiff heavy blade for me (best would be with soft wood but its hgard to get, not many produced)

i really like my current blade butterfly defence 2 (it has all i need but its not produced anymore and i need next blade)
my blade need to have min 95 grams

about LP OX i found DG most spin while chopping topspins and good enough to play close table aggressive style

other LP OX which i like is dtecs (but it has less spin in chopping than DG)

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Butterfly Defence II / Victas Curl P1V 0.5mm / Tibhar Evolution MX-P 2.0mm -185g

I played with a custom hard slow blade. I was losing against patient topspin players who just feed me with low risk shots and I could not hit through them.

Today I played a local tournament with relatively fast Firewall Plus + Dornenglanz ox without any training (but I played Firewall+DG several years before). The difference was huge: I closed my weaker FH wing with a high caliber gun without serious cost for my BH.

I am approx 1800-rated and suggest a faster blade when you need an impulse to next level with ox.

I've played with a variety of blades, from very slow (and oversized), to OFF, with a few different OX pips. The most effective has definitely been a fast blade with Dornenglanz. Others have been easier to control, or better for chopping, but overall most dangerous is OFF/DG.

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Yasaka Sweden Classic | 802 OX | C8 OX
Check out my blog - LordCope's Latest Learning Log - 10+ years of accumulate mistakes!

I played most of the last season with Chen Weixing blade and Cropcircles ox pips. It was good combination in all areas - blocking, chopping, active plays, serve receive etc.

Last season (old ball) I played with Defplay and Dornenglanz - I was happy with it.

2 years ago I played with Firewall+ (Dtecs/Talon) with decent success, but now it feels too fast and uncontrolled for me.

Now I am dreaming of playing with sponged pips, Sanwei Code 0.5 feels quite good. Another dream is to be able to make respectable attack from the BH side, and sponge might help.

I have tried many times blades like Matsushita Pro (not very good with ox pips), TSP reflex defence (too slow, bad feeling) and Yinhe 980 (uncontrolled, too fast).

Chen Weixing blade is not too bouncy and it doesn't have catapult, so it feels quite good with ox pips. Dtecs works well, Agenda and Viper are interesting, Pogo is ok, Cloud & Fog is playable...

I am quite happy with CWX+CC and I can't mostly blame equipment for my losses. But. With the balls the distruption is mostly gone. There are inverted players that can overplay my BH both in power and in consistency, so against them I feel quite helpless. The basic lack of control and easy - unexplained mistakes - are the problem with ox pips. If the rally is long enough, you just dip the ball in the net or it flies long (with no particular reason...). With old ball the distruption was good, so I could expect mistake from the opponent, if I just kept the ball in the table. No it's often in the other way around.

I'm a close to the table blocker and aggressive pusher with a flat hit FH.
After many trials I have settled on Dtechs ox BH and Tibhar super def 0.5 black on the FH.
Using a Tibhar defence plus blade.
That's me,done.

Stiga Stellan Bengtsson Allround with Dawei 2008 1.8 sponge and Bomb Talent OX is my main and perfect setup for my blocking style game. Also have same rubbers on Yasaka Sweden all-round classic as a backup which plays very similar. Both perfect for me

Currently using Timo Boll Alc CS with Daiwai 388D1 0.8sponge but this setup requires very active strokes, attacking ability is very good.
My second setup is same blade with Agenda OX, this setup does not require very active strokes. However, attack ability is not as good as the 388d1. The defensive strokes s very simple, just put the racquet to the ball ad hardly miss any easy defensive shots

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wlhk
Chinese Penholder
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Forehand: MXP
Backhand: Grass Dtecs, Tsp P3 Alpha
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Well, you obviously should not change equipment on the first case. You should master the equipment before change.

The second case may be a reason to change, 100% consistency does not pay off in table tennis. The playing style and equipment for the playing style should force opponent to errors not just wait for errors.

FYI, usually a long pip player will play 100-400 rating points better vs a double inverted player than vs another junk rubber player.

A very good blade/lp combo would be: a Giant Dragon Kris 2 blade with any OX of GD Cropcircles, Globe 979, or Grass DTecS.

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Panda Drive / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH Xiom Omega IV Elite Max / Play right-handed
XVT balsa carbon 10mm / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH Globe 979 Long Pips OX / Play Left-handed shakehand
Stiga Def Wood / 4H Xiom Sigma Pro 2 2.0 / BH GD CC LP OX .. Play Left-handed
Cpen SOS Wood / 4H 729 802-40 2.0 / BH GD Talon use righthanded shakehand grip
HARDBAT / Shakehand Hock 3 ply / Friendship Dr Evil OX .. Play Right-handed