OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I did try Buffalo with the Tibhar CO-S-3. It had good control, speed was good, and it was less angle sensitive than other slick antis I tried. The downside was the spin reversal seemed pretty mild. Much less than the DMS Beast, which was the last one I tried (on a different blade).

It could be that the blade I used is too slow or soft.

Unfortunately when taking Buffalo off the blade I ruined it. Now it has all these ripples going through it and it isn't smooth anymore. This has been my universal experience with all slick antis with glue sheets. You get ONE chance. If you remove the anti, you WILL destroy the rubber or the blade or both. It has happened to me EVERY time.

So anyway, now I'll test it (ripples and all) on a Grubba Carbon and see how that works.

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My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

Did you use the gluing me method I described above? Anyway, I have seen something like this before on the ABS and it actually goes away after you re-glue at least to a large extend. Again, apply some glue (I use Elmer's RC) on the sponge/gluesheet and some on the blade, let dry and stick together. Then put a couple heavy books/catalogs on top for a couple of hours or overnight and your are good to go. I don't think the Buffalo is completely ruined.

Regarding the spin reversal, what technique(s) did you try? I actually found the reversal of the Buffalo to be very good, as good as Grizzly and better than ABS, though I have not tested the Beast. I agree on trying it on the Grubba Carbon.

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Equipment:
OSP Ultimate, FH: Dr. Neubauer Dominance Spin Hard 2.1, BH: Dr. Neubauer Troublemaker 0.5
YouTube channel: "AntiRules"

Yes. The same instructions come with the rubber.


Yes, the ridges have gone down a bit although I can still feel them. The stretch marks are still visible. Nevertheless, it should be good enough to give me a good indication of whether I like the rubber or not. I hope on the Grubba Carbon I get that mad spin-reversal I want.


Standard "hand hold" technique. Some spin reversal was there. It just wasn't strong enough.

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The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
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My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

most slick antis on the right blade will most definitely produce more spinreversal than any frictionless long pimple- no comparison. you might want to upload vids showing you play.

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Blade: Barna Original Triumph Forehand Yasaka Razka Po Backhand Der-Materialspezialist Störkraft 0.8
http://www.instagram.com/dragontattooguy

I'll do that. If I can get more spin-reversal than with Super Block, I'll be over the Moon.

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The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
Table Tennis Video Links: itTV | laola1.tv | ttbl | fftt | Challenger Series | mnnb-tv

My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

you can send the links to me via pm

_________________
Blade: Barna Original Triumph Forehand Yasaka Razka Po Backhand Der-Materialspezialist Störkraft 0.8
http://www.instagram.com/dragontattooguy

As I was cutting a sheet of Buffalo last night, I noticed how thin the top-sheet is. Although the top-sheet feels hard and slick, if you press down on it even slightly, you can feel the pimples underneath. I think this is what makes it different from other slick anti rubbers.
It explains to me why it seems to have high reversal, yet when you push/chop/hit you feel enough grip to give you some extra control.

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Did you already test it on the Grubba Carbon? Did you get better reversal?

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Equipment:
OSP Ultimate, FH: Dr. Neubauer Dominance Spin Hard 2.1, BH: Dr. Neubauer Troublemaker 0.5
YouTube channel: "AntiRules"

Yes it was a little better. Still losing to some players I usually beat with long pips though.

I've tried both blocking short and attacking style like Amy/AA. The short blocks work very well, the fast pushes not so much. Having some trouble with fast serves to BH going long.

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The MNNB Blog has had some pretty amazing stuff lately. Just click this text to check it out. | My OOAK Interview
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My whole set-up costs less than a sheet of Butterfly Dignics

You need to give it some time! The techniques with a frictionless anti require some practice since they are different (at least for close to the table play) than with lp ox. You may need a couple of month of practice to get to the same level as before, so initially you may drop a little bit in your performance level but to me it was worth the results. A lot of people just give up to quickly as they treat it like testing another long pip, where you usually know after a couple of sessions if it is going to work our or not.
My recommendation would be to initially focus on just 2 techniques:
- passive block against topspin; use as little motion or movement as possible
- aggressive push against underspin; focus on bat angle and the motion is only forward, no downward motion
There are 3 general techniques to deal with fast serves or no-spin balls in general:
- go a step back and chop; safest option but you get into a defensive position; this is what I do when my block does not work
- hold your bat very lose and block the ball back, focus on placement; most difficult option and requires some practice but then you can stay at the table; my favorite option
- sideswipe motion similar to lp ox; I am not good at this at all so you would need somebody else to go a little deeper into this technique

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Equipment:
OSP Ultimate, FH: Dr. Neubauer Dominance Spin Hard 2.1, BH: Dr. Neubauer Troublemaker 0.5
YouTube channel: "AntiRules"

I just saw a video of Simon Huth which he posted at noppentest.de! He recently switched to Buffalo as well and the video actually shows a large variety of anti techniques. Simon's German TTR is 2110, which would equal to a USATT of close to 2500. He is probably Germany's best anti player and his great claim to fame is a victory over Ruwen Filus (current world ranking is 48) a couple of years ago at a state championship in Germany.



P.S.: The video was posted by Simon's opponent and he used it to explain how to play against anti; so there is quite a bit of analysis in German.

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Equipment:
OSP Ultimate, FH: Dr. Neubauer Dominance Spin Hard 2.1, BH: Dr. Neubauer Troublemaker 0.5
YouTube channel: "AntiRules"

The player who comments on the game makes abundantly clear how hard it is to play against Buffalo, especially when there is a lot of twiddling. He states that spinreversal is "massive", that he is getting all of his topspin back as backspin and that "you won't believe how hard it is" to deal with this. Nice; I've got one coming this week...

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Without opponent, no match.

Hi Kees, just wondering if you already got your sheet and if you had a chance to test it.


UPDATE: after getting used to the Buffalo a little bit more, I started working on attacking yesterday which actually works surprisingly well. I believe this is due to the thin top sheet as described very accurately by haggisv (see above). You can actually feel the ball sink in and kind of "stick" on the blade when attacking which gives a better feel of control and you can guide the shot where it is supposed to go. Of course this feel is different from a soft inverted rubber but it is unlike other antis like Grizzly or ABS. It also worked surprisingly well on no-spin or very little underspin balls which (at least to me) is almost impossible with ABS or Grizzly, which only worked well when attacking heavy underspin. Although the Buffalo is the slowest anti I have tested, on an OFF blade you can still accelerate the ball fast enough when attacking but the shots seem very disruptive because of the low bounce and different spin (compared to inverted) and not so much just the speed. I will continue to work on it...

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Equipment:
OSP Ultimate, FH: Dr. Neubauer Dominance Spin Hard 2.1, BH: Dr. Neubauer Troublemaker 0.5
YouTube channel: "AntiRules"

I am currently testing it. I never played with frictionless rubber before, so I ran into a number of problems, mostly reflexes not yet tuned to the absence of grip; I'll post my review when I have come completely on terms with it.
So far, I have mixed feelings. What pleased me is the almost complete reversal the rubber is capable of and its high value for control, which in some respects isn't quite on par with classic anti's, but overall comes mighty close. It is, however, not as versatile as a classic anti. Your comments on attacking with it puzzle me; I found that its lack of grip made it very hard to attack low spin or no spin balls if you do not have a direct line of attack, that is, if the ball has to be lifted some to get over the net. Hitting a high ball is no problem, no matter what the spin on it, as long as you punch-drive it, but if a bit of lift is needed, the reversal or the lack of spin means the ball will float and it won't come down. For instance, trying to attack a fast low-spin (topspin) serve, it is possible to get it safely over the net if your timing is ok, but the thin sponge bottoms out even on moderate impact, so reversal is really almost 100%, and the ball tends to float, and you can't attack with speed. For similar reasons I can't push against backspin; pushing aggressively is perfect as long as solid contact is made, and so is the side-sweep, but when I try a real push against backspin the ball pops up due to the absence of grip.
So as things stand now, for me, this rubber really limits your responses: you have to defend against topspin and attack backspin, and no way between. Not a bad thing at all, normally, but day before yesterday I played a much weaker player and there was so little spin coming from him that I had to step around my backhand all the time because I had to use my forehand. I don't have that problem when I use classic anti or an Ox LP. On the other hand, when I played a strong looper I was able to defend away from the table completely safe, just waiting for the right ball to attack, with no risk whatsoever, as this anti is bringing everything back when you chop with it, and it is so easy to keep the ball low over the net.
So, on the one hand I'm thrilled about it (although I would probably use the 1.5 mm for competition, which should do better against no-spin), but on the other I am having doubts. I guess the main thing that makes me wonder is its reversal; yes, it is very high, but you don't get more backspin in your chops or chop-blocks because of that (as it won't add anything), that is, you can get the same maximum amount by using LP or anti and good technique.

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Without opponent, no match.

Kees, there are a couple of things to keep in mind when playing frictionless anti as distinct from long pips or classic anti. When attacking in particular no-spin or low-spin balls as I described above you need to hit the ball at the highest point because you need to hit it downwards as you can't put any arc on it. The stroke is with a relatively open blade face and the motion comes from the underarm. This needs to be practiced and you need good footwork too. If you miss the highest point you have to just push it back.
When blocking topspin don't try to chop-block like you would with long pips. Only do a passive block, or just stick your paddle in there. The less motion you have on your block the more reversal you get! Any kind of motion you use on your block will take a little bit of reversal away. Again, this needs to be practiced and it took me a while coming from medium pips. I still have a little bit of a motion on my block (see video) but it has gotten much better over time.
All you really need is some time to clean up the techniques and you will be rewarded with a highly disruptive game. By the way, I have seen this too since moving to frictionless anti that you beat a looper much higher rated and then you loose to a lower rated guy who doesn't really apply any spin. I think the options and control against the no spin guys are much better with Buffalo than, let's say, ABS or Grizzly.

_________________
Equipment:
OSP Ultimate, FH: Dr. Neubauer Dominance Spin Hard 2.1, BH: Dr. Neubauer Troublemaker 0.5
YouTube channel: "AntiRules"