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Reviewed on 2023/6/7.
This is a long pips rubber with amazing, truly natural variation. If you can do the basic chops, it's easy to produce both a sharp cutting backspin and a knuckle ball.
Pushes tend to be the headline feature, but compared to other long pips, the absorption and the sense of holding the ball are very strong. Since it doesn't have a trapezoidal pip shape like Curl P4, it really feels like it holds onto the ball.
Honestly, intermediate players and above can bring out the best in this more than beginners.
If a chopper without much skill uses this, they might mistake it for a long pips that only cuts a little, but in reality the good ball-holding creates stability and ease of control, and even heavy drives and smashes go in easily as long as you make contact — I'd like people to think of it as a rubber where your own skill level shows through directly.

Also, it's recommended for close-to-the-table pips-out players too, since the nastiness of the knuckle ball really comes through.

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I'd say this is better suited to people just starting out with chopping...
In terms of spin, other companies' long pips rubbers (like the Curl series or Feint Long series) are better, and for weird variation the Vertical 20 or 55 are better too.
I think it would also feel lacking for pips-out all-around attacking players.
The one thing it has going for it is stability, so I think it's good for people just starting out with chopping or pips-out attacking,
but it's not a rubber that intermediate players would choose on purpose.

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Since both the sponge and the pips are soft, it feels like it absorbs a good amount of the ball's power.
Maybe because of that, even chopping from an awkward position, the ball lands stably on the table.
Pushes also seem easy to vary a lot — knuckleballs, cutting pushes, and so on.
For attacking, if you really wait for the ball and take a full swing, it goes in consistently.
Depending on your swing speed, you can also send back some pretty heavy chops.
A blade that doesn't bounce too much would suit this rubber well.

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With a sponge hardness of 20 degrees, this is basically a Curl P4-type rubber. Personally I feel it's actually closer to Donic's Spike P2 than the P4, but since more people use the P4, I'll compare it to that.
What's different from the P4 is that the pips here are smaller and thinner, with a decent amount of firmness. Because of that, I found the short game and pushes more stable than with the P4. You can really tell that Shiono, who was involved in developing this long pips rubber, puts a huge emphasis on the push.
Against hard hits, like the P4, the sponge feels like it absorbs the opponent's power, so it bites really well and stays stable too. Compared to vertical pips like the Vertical 20, nothing feels particularly novel, but it's a good rubber that hits a high level of balance between stability, bite, and variation.

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