The Leaf is easily one of my most anticipated throws of the year—and maybe ever—from CLYW. After so much time waiting and years of hype building, my expectations kept climbing. So, when it was finally (and very surprisingly) announced for release this year, I felt a mix of both excitement and what I’ll call a bit of “skeptical nervousness.” I was excited that we were finally getting the long awaited, lower cost, next iteration of one of the most iconic CLYW yoyos, and frankly now one of the most iconic yoyos of all time. But I was skeptical and nervous it wouldn’t live up to its now classic predecessor or the high expectations I had built up for myself while waiting for it.
When it was released, the Chief was WAY ahead of its time and inspired many other yoyo designs for years to come. The Leaf isn’t going to do that—it’s just the nature of the current yoyo design landscape—but I can confirm it is both a worthy successor, and an improved successor. The best way I can describe the Leaf is “Chief TURBO.” It doesn’t feel exactly the same as the Chief but feels similar to the Chief. The Chief is slimmer in width, zippier and quicker to maneuver around string formations, while the Leaf is wider, more stable, and has slightly more heft/better weight distro without being sluggish. In terms of non-performance aspects… this color is not only dope as hell because it’s a callback to one of the 1st run Chief colorways, but it is a striking electric sky blue that can only fully be appreciated in person. And as far as smoothies goes—and I’m a believer that talk of yoyo smoothness in 2024 is absolutely pointless, since most places besides OD have the ability to make an absolutely dead smooth yoyo—but it is worth mentioning here specifically ONLY because that wasn’t the case back in 2011 when the Chief came out. Since it was machined better/yoyo machining has come a long way, the Leaf is smoothest Chief you’ve ever thrown. And even though it’s based on a classic, it has no trouble keeping up with modern tricks of any kind. Maybe that’s partly due to the Chief being so ahead of its time. I think most competitors who use monos on the regular wouldn’t mind if they were told they had to use one of these on stage. The extra width will be appreciated by those who love to do zoning tricks, it’s much more stable than the Chief so horizontals aren’t an issue, and it has more power than the Chief so it’ll spin for as long as pretty much any other mono. Is it the most performant yoyo on the market? No, but that’s not CLYW’s target audience and if you want that, go buy a Wilderness or something. But even against a yoyo like that, this one is no slouch, and it is indeed on the more “performance oriented” side of the spectrum out of everything in CLYW’s lineup.
I guess this pic is actually the best way I could possibly explain the difference between the Chief and Leaf - it’s just a picture that looks like how the difference between the two feels. (Older 911 would be the Chief and the newer 911 would be the Leaf).
One thing I really did want to touch on was the price. For CLYW, an $85 mono actually isn’t terrible. Especially when you look back at what people, including myself, were paying for a Chief at retail back in the early 2010s.
IIRC it was $140ish for simpler finishes and $165ish for more complex, harder to ano finishes - which is absolutely totally absurd for a mono and I’m really glad that’s not a thing anymore. But as far as the current state of yoyo pricing goes, $85 for a mono is definitely not the best value, especially if it’s intended to be the brand’s flagship yoyo that introduces people into the brand at a lower price point. I recall the target price point being like 50 or 60 bucks, which is where most monos these days are priced at, so getting it down to that point would be ideal. I do understand that the manufacturing cost of this specific yoyo was inflated due to the number of protos it took to get it right. However, I do know that the Duncan Evolve went through 5-6 or more proto attempts to get right and that’s still $55. I’m sure there are other factors (probably most notably that it’s being produced in much higher quantities so the cost can be brought down) but it would be fantastic to see CLYW have an option as close to that price point as possible. I’ll still buy more regardless of whatever the price is, cause I’m undoubtedly a certified CLYW glazer, but I know most people would love to see that price reduced.
At the end of the day, if you want to experience the best performing version of a Chief, get the Leaf. It’s not the OG and might be missing that hard-to-quantify uniqueness (which could be and probably is a healthy mix of nostalgia and fingernail vibe 
) but it is a refined, perfected version of what was already a true classic banger. I can already tell, like the Chief, that it’ll be one of my favorite CLYW monos.
