I'm making a community testing thread to get some feedback, and ideally some corroboration among community members about a topic I haven't seen brought up once at all yet.

As many of us all realize by now, DB Beys tend to have multiple parts with "stamps" or mold group codes on them. Up until this point there has been little to point us to significant differences based on group codes. Normally we tend to see differences, if any, based on re-releases of parts being slightly altered (usually because they're not just purely aesthetic recolours).

Vanish Blade seems to buck this trend. It appears as if the Vanishes with the group code A4 tend to perform best compared to A1 and A3. I have yet to try A3, so I can't be sure about how A4 compares, but it is fair to say A4 is preferred over the first two.

The accompanying BeyBase article can be found here. This was not initially found by me alone, but actually Kei and I together when experimenting for a completely different piece. One of his Vanish Blades was managing to just feel "better" and win more frequently in a matchup we were testing. It was an A4.

The A4 Vanish Blade seems to have marginally better opposite spin and same-spin capabilities, and ever so slightly seems to precess later on than certain A1 and A2s. In one case I have a particularly "bad" A1 that tends to perform noticeably worse than the other A1s and A2s. It is possible there are particularly good A1/2/3s that also perform at an A4 level.

Here are some tests, to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. Full tests can be found on the BeyBase article, as this post is mostly meant to start discussion and see if others in the community who have a deep enough pool of varying Vanish Blades can also observe a similar phenomenon. 

Floor and ceiling are to accommodate differing judge techniques or perceptions. Floor is a very stringent and draw-heavy perspective where winners are only called when it is incredibly clear, ceilings are less so and rely on replays heavily to determine a victor.

Vanish (A4, Blue) Longinus Over (1 Star) Bearing-3 vs. Devil Valkyrie Over (1 Star) Bearing-3
Floor: 

• VLN.Ov.Br-3: 1 win (1 OS)
  
• DvVL.Ov.Br-3: 0 wins
  
• 9 Draws
  

Ceiling: 

• VLN.Ov.Br-3: 3 wins (3 OS)
  
• DvVL.Ov.Br-3: 1 win (1 OS)
  
• 6 Draws
  

Vanish (A4, Blue) Win Percentage: 100% (75% Floor)

Vanish (A1) Longinus Over (1 Star) Bearing-3 vs. Devil Valkyrie Over (1 Star) Bearing-3
Floor: 

• VLN.Ov.Br-3: 1 win (1 OS)
  
• DvVL.Ov.Br-3: 1 win (1 OS)
  
• 8 Draws
  

Ceiling: 

• VLN.Ov.Br-3: 2 wins (2 OS)
  
• DvVL.Ov.Br-3: 1 win (1 OS)
  
• 7 Draws
  

Vanish (A1, Blue) Win Percentage: 50% (67% Ceiling)

Same spin results:

Vanish (A4, Red) Longinus Over (1 Star) Bearing-3 vs. Vanish (A2, Red) Longinus Over (1 Star) Bearing-3

• VLN.Ov.Br-3 (A4): 8 wins (8 OS)
  
• VLN.Ov.Br-3 (A2): 2 wins (2 OS)
  
• Vanish (A4) Win Percentage: 80%
  

If you have multiple Vanish molds, including A4, it would be highly valuable for us to see if more people can confirm that or deny their A4s being somewhat better than other options. The differences in some cases are very minute, so you do have to be attentive, but in certain matchups (like Dynamite/Devil with F-Gear) it becomes very clear to us at least that A4s are able to win more, and simply do not lose in the same way an A1 or A2 Vanish would in that scenario.

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shout out 2 kai-v 2.

The Complete Competitive HMS Resource

Thanks for helping to put this together, Dan! I'll be really interested to see if others in the community can test this and have similar findings or not.

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I only have Blue and Red A4 myself so I can't test, but man, this is really interesting. I can say that both of mine are as soft as each other so I can say that this much is definitely true. I do wonder if this was intentional on TTs part like we have with layer weights and some disks that seem to have noticeable balance differences.

It's always great to see a detailed thread like this

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th!nkBlargh|H-Code Product List

I have started some testing of a Blue Vanish A1 vs a Blue Vanish A4
I did not swap the parts mid match as I tunes them to each mold the best I can.  I tried to pick relatively new drivers that were all petty sharp.  I also tried match the weight between the 2 combos the best I could.

Vanish A1 (Red marker) vs Vanish A4 (Blue marker) Part I: The Parts
https://youtu.be/bjP6eM8Ao6Q

(After making the video I realize it was really hard to see the display on the scale.  You will just have to take my word for it that it is pretty close.  Overall, the A4 combo is slightly heavier.  The A4 blade is also heavier than the A1 blade)

Vanish A1 (Red marker) vs Vanish A4 (Blue marker) Part II: VLN.Ov(2 star).Br’-0 mirror match
https://youtu.be/aUzgYOPFbBQ

Results: A1 8 OS, A4 2 OS, KOs not counted

Vanish A1 (Red marker) vs Vanish A4 (Blue marker) Part III: VLN.Ov(2 stars).HXt+’-0 mirror match
https://youtu.be/QKISPyyGO8s

Results: A1 6 OS, A4 4 OS

Maybe more to come…

Side note:
I also decided I need a durometer.  I really think the  A1 used in these videos is softer than the A4 used in these videos.  I shall check in a few days.  They feel at least the same if A1 is not tiny bit softer.  I don’t trust my “feel” tho.  Let’s see what a under $30 durometer can do.

Okay here is the durometer reading for A1 vs A4.

https://youtube.com/shorts/os0RDqMBaUs?feature=share

I checked serval times and several spots. They are pretty much the same for me between A1 and A4

I have the A4 mold but what I really am wondering is how consistent the A3 mold is. Since my friend has it ill be sure to run some tests.