Gambler Exotic Rosewood IM8

This is my 4th Gambler blade and I’ll use comparisons to others a lot in this review for context. This is my favorite blade as I’m finding it falls in the middle ground of doing everything really, really well. Previously I’ve played with the Gambler Fire Dragon Touch, Fire Dragon Fast & Balsa Knight. I’m a big believer in thickness of blades (as well as wood composition to some extent) in making up essentially what a blade offers as far as power vs spin combination. Thinner blades (ex: Fire Dragon Series) which are 5.75mm thick (that’s fairly thin) flex more & spin the ball up very nicely. However blades that flex too much sacrifice in power. They just won’t have as much pop. Thick blades (ex: Balse Knight) 8.9mm thick (that’s unbelievably thick. I’ve often joked it’s like hitting the ball with a baseball bat) do not flex as much and the spin generation is harder. But they certainly are faster with more innate power. I find this blade is right in that sweet spot for spin & power at 6.21mm thick. It’s worlds spinnier than my Balsa knight (not as powerful though) but still has very good power. I’d say it also spins it just as well as my Fire Dragon Fast. I can’t tell the different between them in spin generation. I think it has slightly more power than my two previous Fire Dragons. The wood composition 2 Rose Wood 2 cypress and a center of Ayous, integrated with 2 layers of IM8 Carbon. I really like the core of Ayous. That’s also what another famous bat of the Stiga Clipper (but that one doesn’t have carbon) uses in the middle and the thickness of that blade and this one is the same. The touch & soft play are there when you want it. The carbon layers look to be pretty close to the outer edge so that’s where some of the power comes from. Now onto what I like most about this blade. The gears of this blade are perhaps it’s best quality. My first impression when I hit with this blade was “It’s pretty fast. Maybe even too fast”. But then at club when I’m running drills with opponents and they’re practicing loops sending me there A stuff, just blocking is so much easier to keep the ball on the table as compared to my Balsa Knight, which was a rocket. When I want soft play or need a touch shot, it’s there. It feels very controllable and just makes the game easier to play. Having said that, this blade is fast. If you apply just a little effort, this blade goes. You can play well off the table. Close to the table best to use good habits of short compact strokes because big strokes can send the ball long. This blade is fast when you try for sure. I’m playing this with untuned Chinese rubbers as that’s what I’ve always liked. So the power isn’t coming from a rubber tuned to the max from the factory if that’s what you’re wondering. It really is in the blade. To sum up. This blade has speed, power, can spin it up nicely and likely it’s best quality is the amount of gears it has. Might have the most gears I’ve tried. It just simply does everything very well. I couldn’t be more happy with this blade.