Thoughts on the MagicYoYo Katana 2?

Yo-Yo Reviews Looking for Help/Recommendation
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Has anyone played the redesigned MYY Katana? I haven’t played it or the original sadly, but I have some thoughts.

As someone who was obsessed with trying to get one of the originals for about a year, I’m a little disappointed to see how they changed it.

I understand updating classic yoyos if you’re a company needing ideas, wanting to cash in on nostalgia, or if the design isn’t as desirable with changes in modern standards/tastes, but the demand for the original product as is seemed like it was there. No one can know for sure, but judging by how insanely hard it is to find the og and all the positive reviews it had, I don’t think anyone was asking for tweaks. I personally don’t prefer the aesthetics of making this version more V-shaped, and I fear it will only make it sharper (can’t say for certain without trying it). If that’s the case, that was the exact opposite of what I would have changed, if anything.

To be fair, I can’t say the rest of the changes are necessarily bad. I can’t recall a single reviewer wishing it was more rim weighted, but this could have been done to get the weight down from 66g (which Yap! did comment on, but only him iirc) without sacrificing power. Still, not following the trend of being a light bimetal with extreme rim weight was one thing that set the original apart. I was a little underwhelmed with the colorways at first, but that’s really only because the og had a crazy amount of awesome colorways. The more I look at the new ones though, the more I think these are great colors (I’m a sucker for blue w/ raw rims).

Some differences are perhaps even positive. Kudos to MYY for bringing the price down $15+ by skipping the NSK gold bearing. Also to their credit, it appears that the medial part of the SS rings sit more flush with the body, and the grind finish looks like it might be better.

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Left: Original; Right: New (sorry it’s washed out - not my pic).

All my gripes aside, I can understand why MYY made these changes. It will appeal to the nostalgia of those who had or sought the old, and the redesign will appeal to those looking for something different than the original.

I’m planning on getting out of the hobby, so unless your reviews change my mind, I’ll be thankful this release doesn’t tempt me as much as I thought it would. Curious to hear your thoughts.

P.S. Not saying anyone shouldn’t buy this. If you do, I hope you enjoy it :slight_smile:
P.P.S. If anyone wants to sell their original to get the new, I might be interested. I don’t need more yoyos lol.

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(Comment to prevents bumps as I fix mistakes).

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I do not own the original Kitana, I always wanted it but just couldn’t get one at the time. I had just finished buying a lot of yoyos when this appeared, I didn’t like the colors but I was debating on buying one anyways. Then a blue Kitana with Silver Rims popped up and I couldn’t have been more happier. How does it play? It’s 62.2 grams and one of the lightest yoyos in my collection. It feels premium, picture the most floaty yoyo in the world. Now you would assume the newer V shape would make it play fast since it’s so light. It CAN play fast, but it’s not the fastest playing yoyo arounde there, either. The irony is, it’s also an extremely stable yoyo despite the weight as well! I would say that is plays absolutely nothing like the original, even though I never owned one due to the weight reduction alone. I think this is the better version, the original at a whopping 68 grams I don’t think would work as well today. This is one of my favorite throws next to the Outlier 2/3, Edge Beyond, and UNPRLD Flash. The yoyo needs more love and I hope others pull the trigger, I was suggested this by someone on youtube. It is mind-boggling how light it is, but it doesn’t feel too light in feel or even in spin time. The yoyo is a bit of a puzzle to me still, not sure how they were able to achieve or create some of it’s characteristics. I assume the 7075 is the hero in this story, the walls are so thin. I have no other throws (I own about 70) like this yoyo. This is on my list of top 5 easily!

Edit: Original MYY Kitana is 66.3 grams (see underneath)

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts! This is really the only review on the forum that goes in to any detail. Glad you like yours.

It was actually 66.3g, which was perhaps more out of place when it released than it would be now. Back then, few competition bimetals would be caught dead at a weight above 63.5g (YYFr Hummingbird, C3 Hydrogen Crash, Offset Outlier, etc.). Today, speed combos don’t score as well on stage, so weights having been increasing (along with width) to help spin time - e.g. Peregrine X, Outlier+ & 5, Shutter Elite, etc. Still, that’s a drastic difference from the new version’s 62.2g. Like you said, I can’t imagine the two playing the same at all for that reason alone.

P.S. Welcome to the forum!

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Thank you for correcting me, you are 100 percent right. I’m not a competition player, but I love hearing about how they score and the changes they make so that was interesting. Best community ever, see you around :slight_smile:

You can slow down, but don’t leave us, with yoyo you always have something to do! Eventually, you’ll be somewhere standing/waiting and you’ll come back :slight_smile:

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Thanks for the kind words! It’s certainly a great community, and the people are what’s kept me around the longest. I may be shifting gears into yoyo design soon, should I get the time :slight_smile:

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