Ball: BVP Wizard
Layout:
“4E†from the Brunswick drill sheet; pin 5 ¾†from PAP, below middle finger
CG in thumb-positive quadrant
No XH
Initial Surface Preparation:
Six sides with 1200 CAB
Six sides with 2000 Abralon
Six sides with Brunswick Factory Finish High Gloss Polish
Purpose:
For drier medium conditions where there is still some oil to the inside, and where playing a more direct line is advantageous or where the pattern is transitioning in parallel lines.
Why this ball?
I had drilled a 4L-drilled BVP Nemesis for this purpose (which I still have, but it’s in the league bag now), and while I like the predictability of the reaction of the Nemesis, I was seeking a smoother reaction at the breakpoint while retaining the clean look in the front part of the lane. The Nemesis had a tendency to be just a bit too pushy on conditions where there wasn’t a well-defined dry area in the track, and seems to get a bit unpredictable when I have to cross boards with it.
Despite the obvious similarities between the Nemesis and Wizard, I’ve seen a few people throw them side by side, and the Wizard has pretty consistently been just a bit longer and just a bit sharper than the Nemesis. I thus went with the pin-below drilling, as I wanted the Wizard to pick up the midlane a bit sooner than the Nemesis does.
Observations:
The first time I threw the Wizard was at a tournament at a center with synthetic fronts and wood in back, when there was too much wet-dry down the lane for the Radical Inferno. I tried to play the lane from left to right as I had with the Radical, and to my surprise, the Wizard was much stronger than I expected off of the dry, almost as much so as the Radical. I thus tried to square up more and go straighter through the oil, which really wasn’t an option with the Radical, and this was where the Wizard began to shine. The reaction was very predictable, and the ball rode the oil line well, and carried the corners even from that deeper angle.
I also used the Wizard in the later blocks of a tournament on an older wood surface. Again, the Wizard was extremely strong off of the dry boards, but when I got my feet to the left and tried to fall the ball back off of the inside oil, it gave me a great look with good pin carry.
Because of its status as a dry-medium ball, I haven’t had as many opportunities to throw the Wizard as I might have liked. I’ve tried it on patterns that are longer, and that don’t have a lot of built-in hook, and the Wizard didn’t stand a chance on either. Because of the surface preparation, the ball never read the midlane, and offered no recovery in back. But this wasn’t really a surprise, as this wasn’t the condition for which I drilled this ball.
Conclusions:
Like the BVP Nemesis, the Wizard works best when I use a more direct line. This ball doesn’t seem to be built for recovery, for when I do give away the pocket, I either get an inconsistent reaction in the midlane, or the ball labors to get back to the pocket and doesn’t carry well. Also, like the Monster Bruiser before it, the Wizard seems to like to be thrown through the oil; if it hits dry boards too early, it has a tendency to either bounce off of the dry or burn up too soon, even with a polished surface.
--------------------
...formerly "The Curse of Dusty," and "Poöter Boöf" before that...