A Super Viscaria? Thoughts on the Viscaria Super ALC

Originally published 2022-02-20 · Translated & republished with permission

01 Mushroom’s Preface

Butterfly’s blockbuster 2022 new product — the Viscaria Super ALC — launches on March 1. This move is bound to stir up a storm down the road. Some players are curious and eager, some are puzzled and mocking, and many enthusiastic friends have already lined up questions to ask me. Without further ado, this article lays out some of my outlook and interpretation of the “Super Viscaria.” It may be a bit hard to follow, so please read carefully — you’re sure to come away with something!

02 I Got Heavier, and Stronger Too (Old vs. New Viscaria Spec Comparison)

Viscaria:

Rebound characteristic: 11.8
Vibration characteristic: 10.3
Thickness: 5.8 mm
Weight: 86 g (shakehand)

Viscaria Super ALC:

Rebound characteristic: 12.1
Vibration characteristic: 10.1
Thickness: 5.7 mm
Weight: 89 g (shakehand)

03 On Pricing (Market Expectations for the Blade)

This is a “non-custom, non-limited” market-version product, with an official suggested retail price of 1,980 yuan. Following Butterfly’s 75-percent-of-list rule, the selling price is expected to be around 1,485 yuan. The first batch will be small, so before stock is widely available there’s sure to be some markup. My guess is a market price of about 1,500-1,700 yuan. There’s not much room for the blade to appreciate, so the unscrupulous merchants looking to speculate on it should give it a rest.

04 The Popular View

Butterfly has ZLC, Super ZLC, and ALC — but no Super ALC. That slot in the lineup has always been empty. Before the Super ViS was announced, many people were hoping a Super ALC would appear, yet Butterfly never adopted the structure.

(1) Some say a Super ALC might end up performing a lot like ZLC, so there’d be no point — which is why they never released it.

(2) Others say the ALC structure itself already trends toward crisp and springy, while ZLC is supple, and Super ZLC is still controllable. But adding more material content on top of ALC would only make it even springier and impossible to control — not usable, and not promising!

05 Mushroom’s Thinking

For my part, I’ve always held a positive view. Butterfly loves its Russian-doll lineups — they already have Super ZLC, so how could they not want to develop a Super ALC? The answer is inevitable; over these years Butterfly has been working on Super ALC-structured blades all along.

But because of a physical, technical limit — increasing carbon-fiber content will necessarily increase a blade’s elasticity, and as elasticity rises the blade’s vibration characteristic rises with it, thereby changing the original feel. The fact is, the Viscaria is already very springy and rather hard to handle for many amateur players. So blindly increasing material content without a reasonable solution would inevitably make the paddle uncontrollable. Using a limba face veneer as a buffer is a good solution: for example, the domestic Leishen Bayi custom uses outer Super ALC plus limba, and the Yula Scepter likewise adopts the super-fiber-plus-limba approach, maintaining high explosiveness while providing arc protection.

06 Mushroom’s Further Thinking

Butterfly, however, cannot do this. Their challenge is this: top players want the Viscaria to deliver greater hitting power without changing the hitting feel. Because if the Viscaria switched to a limba face veneer, it would no longer be the Viscaria — they had to use koto as the face veneer and change only the material layer. By repeatedly adjusting the ratio and arrangement of fiber and carbon, Butterfly finally succeeded in developing a Super ALC that retains the suppleness and ease of use of ALC while weaving in more fiber content.

PS: By the law of conservation, it’s impossible to increase only the elasticity, so the Super Viscaria’s vibration characteristic will change somewhat. But the overall flavor (feel) will stay fairly close to the original, because what’s added is fiber, not carbon.

Last but Not Least

Performance prediction: “The players who test-played it also say the hitting feel is about the same as the Viscaria, but the ball’s power is noticeably improved.” I trust the official assessment more than any guesswork. My one hope is that its forehand can improve the “woody” issue.
Target users: suitable for upper-intermediate amateurs and above, as well as professional players.
Future outlook: Will other Super ALC-structured blades appear? The answer is inevitable. If even the fiercest ViS can go Super ALC, then the gentler Zhang Jike Super ALC and Lin Gaoyuan Super ALC are just as possible, and there will even be an inner-fiber Zhang Ben Super ALC.

Mushroom says: the Super ALC structure is sure to spawn other models — the Super ViS is just the beginning. After all, Butterfly loves its Russian-doll lineups. Let’s wait and see.