“...designed for players seeking enhanced shooting power and precision.” - Oxdog.net
The earlier Oxdog era was largely dominated by a single blade, Block. If you have read my review on Block, you know that shooting is probably the weakest aspect of that blade. During this time Oxdog had also come up with the concept of CPB, which could increase the stiffness of a blade by adding carbon fiber inserts close to its heel. On paper, this increased stiffness should also improve the power delivery of a blade. To take advantage of this innovation, Oxdog quickly went to the drawing board. The new blade with CPB technology, Delta, ended up being a largely disappointing attempt at improving the Block concept. No real improvements to shooting were made, and a size increase made the blade feel rather clunky. The need for a great shooting blade grew and in 2015, Oxdog released Avox.
And what a great release that was. Design-wise Avox is nothing like its two predecessors. CPB makes the heel rock solid, and the tip has an interesting, almost pocket-like design. Avox is a bit larger than Block, but the rounded tip makes it comfortable regardless. As a result of being built like a tank, Avox also weighs 74 grams. The touch is good, but not brilliant. It is difficult to make it much softer than this without sacrificing the stiffness. Much like Block, Avox has also had a wide variety of color options over the years. Many of these are still regularly available due to the popularity of Avox.
Avox is probably the most used Oxdog blade of all time. This is my subjective opinion of course, but I cannot think of many other blades that I have seen being used this much for the last 10 years. Avox was originally created for shooters and goal scorers, but it is popular among all different player types and styles. This blade was a game-changer for a reason. It is light-years ahead of Block in the shooting aspects. Drag shots are especially comfortable with Avox, and in terms of the general shooting feel, this blade is still competitive with the latest releases from other brands. In my opinion, passing with Avox is not that comfortable. This mainly applies to quick touch passes, where soft reception of the ball is critical. Defenders and centers should be the most worried about this, as those roles require extra reliability in long passing plays.
To this day I struggle to get a clear reading on Avox. You can go from not missing the goal for weeks to fumbling every pass and completely losing your trust in the blade. After a while though, you start remembering the good times and eventually send that “you up?” message. Now, both you and I know that this never ends well. No matter how sweet the honeymoon was, I decided to move on from Avox. Jokes aside, I have always found this blade to be too inconsistent for my liking. No matter how I try to hook Avox, I have not found the brilliance my teammates often talk about. Still, it would be ignorant of me not to recommend this blade as the peak performance is one of the best Oxdog has to offer.
My inconsistency issues with Avox likely stem from some weird incompatibility with my playstyle, but I will not let it cloud my judgement. Avox is a brilliant choice for a forward, but unfortunately, it’s too one-dimensional as a general recommendation for me. Passing with Avox is nowhere near as comfortable as shooting, but the overall touch and ball control are above average. If you play with a lighter shaft, you should look at Optilight or Gate instead of this one. For the heavier shafts like Fusion, Avox is still a good choice. Maybe I just look at Avox through rose-tinted glasses due to nostalgia and the impact it had in the past, but I do still consider this one of the best blades available for shooters.