Storm’s next big thing?
Remember that coverstock accounts for 70% of ball reaction, but the core will create the dynamic shape. Your drilling will alter the shape to suit your game and conditions you bowl on. Kyle Hartzell of BowlerX is our tweener tester. Eric Filipovits is our high rev tester. Let me briefly describe the layout and what it’s intention is. Kyle’s layout is 66 x 4 x 33. Eric’s layout is 75 x 5 1/2 x 35. Generally speaking, both will delay the roll and have a quick transition at the breakpoont.
Please work with your local pro shop operator to find what best works for you.
First Impressions
This was one of those balls that not only did we want to love, but from the first throw, we knew it would meet our expectations. You can see it has the potential to fit where I thought it would, as a ball that can be used to open up the lanes when the conditions have broken in a bit. Knowing the control the original Marvel offers, you can probably take some surface to this ball and calm it down to get a more controlled look for fresh shots. Bottom line was we liked the motion right away.
Value 8.5/10
The Storm Marvel Pearl is in the Master Line and is a bit on the expensive side. However, I don’t think you would be dissapointed making the investment.
Core
The Centripetal Core has an RG of 2.48 and .050 differential. It’s an earlier rolling, very smooth core. It defines the overall shape of the reaction and you can see that the shape of the core will dictate a smooth motion.
Cover 9/10
The Storm Marvel Pearl uses the R2X reactive pearl coverstock. Storm continues to have a very good run with coverstocks. They are very tweakable. It comes out of box as 1500-grit polished. I have found this finish typically skittish on many balls, but this one seems reasonable. I personally prefer to get a little bit of surface on pearlized balls or at least knocking off the polish to smooth the reaction and make it less over/under on fresh conditions.
Reaction 9/10
Those of you who liked the Marvel solid will like this as the perfect compliment. This ball is definitely cleaner through the heads but still makes a smooth transition and a nice continuous move. Those who weren’t too fond of the original Marvel may still like this one since the Pearl takes advantage of the smoothness of the core while providing a more aggressive move at the breakpoint. So you’ll get that more boomerang shape rather than the very smooth banana shape of the Marvel. The Marvel’s solid cover was very aggressive and so dug in to the head’s reading early and being very smooth. The Prodigy was somewhere in between, still digging in with the mica particles but allowing for a smooth booming reaction. The Marvel Pearl is much cleaner while still giving that nice smooth read. When you find the Prodigy is burning a bit too much energy, leaving corner pins, switch to the Marvel Pearl and get the same continuous motion you were originally getting on the fresh shot with the Prodigy.
Overall 9/10
The Marvel Pearl uses an early revving core in a cover that creates more length, allowing for a longer and more angular reaction, yet very controllable and predictable. It’s just the right mix of smoothness and aggressiveness, being very continuous. It will compliment more aggressive equipment very well, particularly balls that have smooth reactions, like the Marvel Solid, Prodigy, Hy Road, Gamebreaker, etc.