OOAK Table Tennis Forum

I'd like to try a frictionless anti but have no clue which one would be good since i've never played with one. I've heard antis are harder to use than LPs. If true, which anti and thickness do you recommend for a new user that provides good control but also decent reversal? I'm currently using LPs on BH for a blocking/pushing game if that helps any. Thank you for any advice!

I started making the transition from long pips to anti for a close to the table game a couple of months ago. The first thing you'll want to consider is your blade. I was using a Donic Defplay Senso V3 prior to the switch. I was skeptical about how blade sensitive the frictionless antis are, but it is definitely true. I had to swap out my Defplay and now I'm using the Dr Neubauer Matador. If you are using a blade with too much flex, you will not be happy with the results.
I tried the Dr Neubauer ABS2, Dr Neubauer ABS2 Soft, DMS Scandal, and DMS Diabolic Extra Slow.
For me, while the ABS2 Soft was probably the most "easy" to use, for what I wanted to do (block short with reversal) the Scandal was the best choice. At first it was probably the most difficult to transition to, but I'm finding it worth it. I'm using the 1.2mm sponge. When I tried ABS2 Soft, I tried a couple of the different thicknesses and didn't find a lot of difference. 2.3 mm is probably the way to go for that one at first.
It's not an easy transition. You either need to find someone who is willing to do a lot of drills with you, or find someone who can coach you in that style. I am lucky in that in my area we have a great coach who really knows both long pips and antispin well.

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"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

My current blade is the Firewall plus thick balsa. I also heard that anti doesn't work well with balsa and I also have a Nittaku Shake Defence I could use. How much easier were the ABS rubbers compared to the Scandal? I have no coach so I'd have to figure it out myself playing with friends.

I wouldn't say it's a lot easier, but it is a little easier to get away with having not quite the proper angle, at least in my experience. What I did was read as much as I could about each of the different rubbers. The beauty of this forum is that you can find pretty detailed reviews on all of the major types, you just need to find the one that sounds like it fits what you want to do the best. I'd also recommend watching some of the videos of players. I've watched AA's videos multiple times to get an idea for blade angles and strategies. Luka Mladenovic is another good one to watch for high level frictionless anti play. You'll find AA's videos on the forum here, and I've also seen some of them on the Der Materialspezialist YouTube channel. Luka has a lot of videos on that channel also.

_________________
"The greatest teacher, failure is"
USATT Rating: 1725
Blade: Stiga Cybershape Carbon
FH Rubber: Butterfly Tenergy 19 2.1
BH Rubber: Dr Neubauer ABS3 1.5

Dms anti are going to be the slowest and fornme, easiest to control. The dr n are generally faster and harder in feel. Dms allow you to block shorter with less skill (but perhaps higher as a result...) because of the super soft sponges.

And no, I wouldn't use the antis on any defensive blades. Too mushy, unless you want a ridiculously slow setup. I put it on a tsp black balsa, the 4. Something thick blade, and I had to consider using two hands like a tennis swing to get it over

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SOULSPIN CUSTOM BLADES
Fh: Spinny rubber
Bh: Not so spinny rubber...