The Phaze is the latest ball released in the Master line of Storm bowling balls. The Phaze has a brand new pearl cover and core combination. The cover is called AX-16, and the core is called Velocity. The Phaze has a unique look with the royal, yellow and copper colors. The Rg of the Phaze is 2.48 and the differential is 0.051, in 15lb balls. The Phaze replaces the Optimus in the Master line.
I drilled a Phaze with a 4 x 4 x 3 ½ layout which puts the pin just to the left of my ring finger and is void of needing a balance hole. The Phaze comes out of the box highly polished. In the box finish, the Phaze was best with squeaky clean backends. If there was a touch of carry-down, I would have to move too far left looking for dry, which then made the core roll too soon. I hit the cover with a 4000 abralon pad, and it made all of the difference in the world! It allowed me to move back right into the oil ,and have great reaction. Mind you, the Phaze still isn’t a big motion through the backends, but that is what I really like about the reaction. Storm makes plenty of bowling balls that I can make go sideways down-lane, so having a pearl ball that gets to the spot fairly easily, and doesn’t make a big move in the backend is a huge plus in my arsenal.
I like the Phaze the most when there isn’t a lot of oil down-lane or the pattern hasn’t carried-down. The Phaze helps even out and provide a little hold, when it isn’t built into the pattern. Comparing the Phaze to my Optimus, the Phaze is a little more even through the backend of the lane, and produces more track flare, which for me, evens out over under reaction.
The Phaze will be a good ball for slower ball speed players that have trouble with their bowling balls changing direction too hard. Speed dominant players, will be able to bump closer to the dry part of the lane, and keep their angles in front of them. The Phaze really looks different in how it reads the lane. The overly tacky cover makes you think this ball should go sideways, but for me, it has the opposite effect, as it uses most of it’s energy once it sees friction, so the move through the backend is much less than most balls that Storm has in the current line-up. I would categorize the Phaze as being a medium oil ball, to medium-heavy with surface adjustments. This new AX-16 cover WILL take surface changes well, so be sure to adjust your surface to get the reaction you are looking for. Thank you for taking the time to read my review of the new Storm Phaze.