Review: Stiga Helix Platinum, Moregard's Championship Weapon

Originally published 2026-03-27 · Translated & republished with permission

Mogu Table Tennis Studio’s “Review Diary” is a personal sharing of my experience, offered for fellow players to reference and learn from.

This issue’s rubber: Stiga Helix Platinum M and H

Test setup: Cosmos carbon, Dujiang Yanlong (Stinger Flame Dragon), Zhang Jike ALC; three blades, mainly testing the backhand.

Mogu’s quick take

In 2026, Moregard climbed to world No. 2, switching from DNA Platinum to Helix Platinum. After changing rubbers, his competitive performance remained strong, taking two more titles back-to-back, which is enough to show the real strength of the Helix Platinum.
The Helix Platinum comes in four hardness specs: M 47.5, H 50, XH 52.5, and 55. The M has a bare weight of 68.5 g and a thickness of 2.2 mm; after cutting it’s probably around 46.5-48 g, which is fairly light.

Test impressions

Part one: Forehand (H hardness, a quick test)

Forehand drives: releases the ball fairly well, but not especially clean; normal performance.
Forehand loops: it grips the ball quite a bit, with good quality close to the table, but 50-degree H is a touch soft on the forehand, roughly equivalent to about 38-degree Hurricane. I’d suggest players go XH or 55 degrees for the forehand.
Forehand looping underspin: the ball-grip feel is obvious, and opening up is fairly comfortable.
The forehand’s only downside is that it isn’t clean enough; the upside is that it grips the ball well and has a tough resilience. In XH or 55 degrees on the forehand, it would be quite violent.

Part two: Backhand (the main test)

Backhand feel: the Helix topsheet is made fairly thin and the sponge thick, so the feel is different from the tensor rubbers we usually use. If I had to find something similar, I’d say the Helix feels a lot like Butterfly’s T80 Hard: fairly balanced and middle-of-the-road.
Backhand with small force: the ball release speed is quite fast, and the sponge is more substantial than a standard tensor, so adding power doesn’t feel hollow, with slightly higher elasticity too. But the topsheet is made thin, so the directional pointing on contact is average; with light brushing, the sense of the sponge and topsheet acting as one is a bit weaker.
Backhand with added power: after you power up, the sponge is clearly more solid than a 2.1 mm tensor, with obvious acceleration. The M hardness already provides decent support; the H on the backhand gives even higher, more violent quality. Excellent!
Backhand defense: no merit and no fault; normal performance.
Helix Platinum M: roughly equivalent to about 37-degree Hurricane, with good control. Compared with DNA Platinum M, it needs a bit more force to drive. The Helix has slightly better control than DNA Platinum M, is tougher, and has a higher ceiling; the sponge grips the ball more deeply than the M, while the DNA Platinum M has a bit faster first-bounce speed and is cleaner, with a topsheet that grabs the ball more than the Helix. Overall they’re about on par.
Helix Platinum H: the 50-degree version. The speed and quality are 1 to 1.5 tiers higher than the M; really top-notch. Because the sponge is harder and deforms less, the control is weaker than the M, but the threshold to play it through is actually a touch lower than the M. The Helix Platinum H produces quality more easily and plays through more easily, but to wield it stably the bar is still a bit higher than the M; it demands more in terms of power output and stroke mechanics.

Part three: Final summary

The Helix Platinum, as Stiga’s newest flagship rubber, has a controlled price of 275 RMB.

Actually, when Mogu first received the test sample, the rubber hadn’t launched yet. At the time my feedback to the company was that pricing this performance between 250 and 300 would be reasonable, and after launch that turned out to be exactly right.

Its performance stands out in three areas: ball holding, hitting quality, and arc stability. Its performance is lacking in two areas: directional pointing, and sponge-topsheet integration.

The Helix series uses an innovative design of thick sponge plus thin topsheet, a non-traditional feel that’s hard to sum up in one sentence: it can do everything! Everything is a little interesting! But nothing is prominent enough! Nothing is dazzling!

It’s very “balanced and middle-of-the-road,” a lot like a power-enhanced version of Butterfly’s T80. It really is useful, but you can’t pinpoint exactly what’s good about it. I thought about this article for a long time; it’s one of the rare products Mogu has run into where I didn’t know how to start writing.

M version: 7-7.5 points (recommended for the 1300-1500 rating range). H version: 7.5-8 points (recommended for the 1500-1800 rating range). It has the qualities of a mid-to-high-end rubber and is worth a try!

Mogu’s reflections, March 27, 2026