OOAK Table Tennis Forum

Leviathan and Dornenglanz may not last as long as other pips. But they are half the price of "premium" pips.

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In the long run, Dg turns out to be expensive unless your opponents' attacks are very weak . If you start hitting backspin with it-which is great at- chances are you will lose pips in less than 2 months

Also Leviathan a lot less dangerous than DG.

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It looks as if Leviathan has been a desperate effort
to improve DG's success.

You will have a hate and love relationship with DG,which is so toxic you will end up in the anti world or revert to a chopping strategy .

Is it legal to use a sponge with a pip sold only in ox?

As though you wanted to use it for chopping and vary the spin with it.

Both DG and Leviathan are sold in ox.

Rob - I haven't been fully tracking, but I estimate tonight was roughly my 7th session this current sheet (1a version) after the last debacle. I'm a typical lazy club player: hitting around, league matches, a few hours each session, I don't know or do any drills or play super hard or with any structure, etc. I thought this sheet was doing pretty good so far as tonight was the first with visible missing pips (two). I was wondering if the fact that I water glued a layer on the blade before using the glue sheet on top of that might have helped cushion or something. But, I have a tournament in 4 days and don't feel right bringing even two missing pips to that so I figured, hey, why not give it a medium firm brushing (nothing crazy, not any kind of force that itself would rip out pips) and see if that shakes out any more pips that are realistically broken but just haven't fallen out yet. Sure enough they start flying out, and by the end it turns out that I actually have 12 missing pips from the 7 or whatever sessions (almost but not even a month yet). So now I'll have to play in a couple days to give some break in to a new sheet and then a tournament on probably just the second session with it. Lovely.

Merlin - Less dangerous for what, handhold blocks? Sure, use DG or D.Tecs or whatever. The point of Leviathan is for players who like the general feel and speed class of DG but want something more active and variable. I don't know or care if it is the most toxic or whatever but players around my skill level have problems when I commit and manage to get a good active stroke off. Not just attacks, even a good brush chop, chop block, whatever.

Sami - Yes, it is legal to apply a sponge to a pip sold in OX.

Anyway, 1a is trash due to the durability. Maybe if it was $5. Even $10 is too much. I say that even having spent $90 or whatever on D05. Alright, I'm out of here for real now until I get around to trying Leviathan Premium. If it actually fixes the durability then it probably deserves its own thread. I did make an order for that after all and plan to test it in about 2 months. One minor thing I am not looking forward to is that it doesn't come with a foil on the top of the pips (so as to lessen tension I guess) so applying to glue sheet will be more annoying.

Leviathan Premium is... okay. I've been kind of off and on with TT lately and not tracking my sessions but I'd guess 8 or more with this. It trends more towards an all-around LP than Lev1A and has more of a relaxed feeling. Not as tensioned/hot as DG or Lev1A. Less reversal. Blockers and D.Tecs style players won't like it. I like it more for chopping than I remember with DG (been awhile now) and some other active strokes (did have some humidity or mush problems last session but whatever) but I miss the better reversal attacking / table play from DG, particularly twiddling to FH. Just feels weaker overall than Lev1A. I think the Spinlord magic is in whatever tension wizardry that is also responsible for DG and Lev1A being so fragile. I could still play with LevPrem at my level (~1900) and higher, but if I wanted to chop there are better options for that and with sponge, and if I want to reversal attack then DG or maybe even try ABS2Pro someday. LevPrem might be a little too relaxed jack of all trades limbo for me. I hadn't noticed any missing pips yet (including after a brushing lately) so durability is likely improved as advertised with LevPrem.

I agree with Eric's assessment of Leviathan Premium. I have used Leviathan original, the 1a version and also the premium version. The original and 1a versions have much better spin reversal then the premium version. Leviathan premium is a good all round pimple for blocking, hitting and chopping but the original and 1a versions have much better spin reversal on active shots such as chop blocking, chopping and hitting through / lifting backspin. The premium version has slightly better control and is easier to do backhand long pimple drives against no spin and light topspin balls. Consider using the premium version for an all round game with better control and try the 1a version for the easy ability to flick/lift/sideswipe backspin with excellent spin reversal. I have tried the 1a version in direct comparison to hellfire x both on a Nittaku Shake Defense blade and in my opinion the 1a version has more spin reversal.