Year of the Sword is in full swing, and we’re hard at work bringing Discmaniac feedback to fruition!
At the start of the year we polled Discmaniacs on social media, asking which Originals molds you want to see reinvented. Luckily for us, a few of those most popular were already in progress while others we began the design process almost entirely due to your requests.
What's Been Forged So Far
Some molds in the top 10 most requested have already been replaced by new Originals molds. These are less of a reinvention, and more us capitalizing on being in control of our own production. These new molds are exactly what we always hoped we could make for that specific feel and flight.
While these molds were planned prior to our Year of the Sword poll, we’re happy we accurately predicted that Discmaniacs would be looking for these molds. This list does not include molds such as PD, MD3, P2, Cloud Breaker, and FD which we knew needed to get to Discmaniacs as soon as possible.
MD1
We wanted to bring the most laser-straight, and neutral mid-range of our lineup back. We designed the new MD1 based on the old MD, fine tuning the dead straight flight with tremendous glide.
To our satisfaction the new MD1 quickly became a favorite mid-range of Discmaniacs and our top touring pros. You can even catch Eagle McMahon reaching for one when he needs to shape lines with high glide.
FD1
Long time Discmaniacs know we had a few versions of the old FD2 mold, always searching for that ideal flight mixing consistent stability with enough glide to shape shots. With the new FD1, we kept some of the elements most enjoyed by FD2 throwers and rebuilt the rest. So far the reception from players like Eagle McMahon and Casey White have been outstanding!
DD1
Another big entry in the Originals lineup, though not entirely designed to replace or reinvent a specific older mold, should satisfy the requests for an old DD replacement. The 11 speed distance driver allows players with above average arm speed to unlock their big distance potential without having to force a higher speed driver.
The Power Driver in the Room
We’ll cut to the chase, and address the Power Driver in the middle of the room - PD2. While many of the top 10 molds requested had close to similar amounts of requests, the PD2 had a significant lead over any other mold. That’s for good reason! PD2 was our first staple driver for professionals, while intermediate to advanced players trusted theirs for wind fighting, power forehands, hyzer bombs, and more. We’re happy to report we have been hard at work reinventing the PD2 for quite some time now. We even ran some prototypes over that time, but have yet to finalize the mold.
Why is it so difficult? Well, molding wide rim drivers takes an extreme amount of care to create a consistent product within PDGA guidelines. In the case of the PD2, much of the weight of the disc is on the rim. While drivers like Enigma or DD3 also have most of the weight on the rim, the PD2 is even more so. More plastic on the rim allows the wide aggressive concave wing shape, giving it the beef players expect. All that weight on the rim makes keeping the disc under the 175 gram limit difficult.
Surely though, you might think, other discs from other manufacturers have similar design - we can’t be the only ones with this delicate balance. Well, you’re right. The solution most other manufacturers come to is to inject air bubbles into either the flight plate or the rim of the disc to keep the overall weight down. The problem with this method is that it creates inconsistency. We believe it is crucial that when you purchase a disc, you can trust it will fly similar enough to another on the same shelf. Not only is it bad for you, the customer, when this isn’t the case, but at the production level we would end up with portions of runs that are completely below standards - creating unnecessary waste in physical resources and valuable working time. Despite these difficulties we continue exploring options to bring the PD2 you expect, without compromising our dedication to crafting the best discs in the game. Current projections for PD2 make a release in early to mid 2024 the most likely.
The X-Factor
One surprise mold came in all the way up at #2 for most popular requests - the P3x. We even had a certain Sky Team member drop a comment in support of the P3x! With this feedback our design team has already hit the drawing board.
The good news is, we have much less challenge ahead of us designing P3x versus the PD2. Once we have a design drawn up we are confident in, we order a sample mold, run a small batch of prototypes, test the performance of those prototypes, submit for approvals, then release them to the wild! P3x is projected to hit shelves early to mid 2024.
Revenge of the Mids
One of our strengths historically has been our mid range lineup. While we are very proud of our work so far with the MD3, we want to bring you our best overstable mid ranges yet. Controlling our own design and production will be especially apparent with the MD5.
While the old MD5 will always have a special place in our heart, it was never truly what we wanted for our overstable utility mid range slot. Finally, we are proud to present the overstability and hand feel our Team and Discmaniacs deserve.
Due to direct feedback from our top Team members the MD5 now features beadless, small diameter design that gives the perfect amount of overstability. Team Discmania loves how these perform so far, and we can’t wait to see them in bags across the world!
We know Discmaniacs are waiting for news on MD4 as well. While we don’t have any news to share on the development of this mold, we can say that it is on the agenda for our production team once the molds already mentioned are finalized.
On Our Radar
While the seven molds mentioned already have been and continue to be our main focus, the rest of the top most requested are in queue for design. TD, P1x, CD3, and DDx being in the mix of top voted molds shows us we need to bring some discs with higher turn to the Originals lineup.
This year we’ve been hard at work solidifying a mold for those looking for a true turning high speed disc. We finalized a mold recently, and are excited to bring a truly understable disc to the Originals lineup perfect for turnovers, hyzer flips, and rollers.
We have even more Wonders in the works for Year of the Sword and beyond - make sure to follow our social media channels linked below for the latest news in all things Discmania.