Warrior Dynasty AXT1 Tapered Composite Blade

[Cosmic 178]

Warrior Dynasty AXT1 Tapered Composite (Kopitar curve every time but once, Zetterberg the other time)
Shaft: Bauer TotalOne Tapered
Time Used: 2-3 months

Stickhandling/Receiving Passes
Both feel great. When receiving passes, the puck feels like it is deadened as it hits the stick. I used cloth tape and Blade Butter over the blade, hard to say if it is the blade or my overall rig. Stickhandling feels good; with the ice puck I get a good feel for the puck, even with inline I feel like I get a better feel over another blade that I use (Easton Mako II). I have had an issue with receiving passes, as the puck slides up over the toe when I catch passes there (because the Kopitar is a bit too open for me). This is more of a personal issue than an issue with the Warrior product, so no points deducted. 9.5/10

Shooting
The puck jumps off the blade with slapshots, wristshots, and snapshots. This could be due to a synergistic effect between the shaft and that I am a tall, strong guy with half decent technique. 9.5/10

Weight/Balance
This is a light blade. When a friend broke his OPS APX and I fused this blade onto his shaft (I bought a few), he remarked that he could not believe how light it was, and that it seemed lighter than the original blade. He is a pretty strong guy with a bodybuilder physique, but it was after he had played for 2 hours, so he ought to have been tired. 9.5/10

Durability
I used this blade about 20 times before realizing I did not like an open face. Up to that point, the blade had a couple of nips and chips, but nothing major, and the performance still felt fine. Around that time, we ventured out to an area where we thought we would have a suitable surface to inline skate on. This was not the case, the surface was too rough. We played a bit anyway, and I used this rig (I have enough blades still new, so no big deal if I trashed it). It held up rather well, the tape took most of the damage, and then the bottom got a little frayed. So, I detached the blade and this became my nephew's. I probably took about 150 full power slapshots with this blade in warmups, just to see what kind of abuse it could take. The blade is still as stiff as when I first got it, no sign of any damage except the nips, chips, and the minor fraying from the hard surface. 9.5/10

Price
These blades are less expensive than other top end blades (Reebok 20K, APX2, Mako II). I definitely prefer it over Mako II, but have not tried the other brands so cannot comment. Regardless, I think this is a great price for a great blade. 10/10

Intangibles
Just a great blade, nothing more to say aside from what has been stated.

Conclusions
I just bought a bulk load of Kovalchuk patterns, so as they would say, "The proof is in the pudding:"

Overall 48/50

Edited December 1, 2013 by Cosmic