-
Spyglass (b-grades)$80.00
-
Exia$95.00
-
MK1 x Spinworthy RBC$85.00 – $95.00
-
Mk1 T-Shirt$25.00 – $29.00
Mk1 Spyglass Design Notes
The Spyglass is the latest yoyo design from Mk1 Yoyos, our third bimetal, and eighth release overall. It takes design inspiration from previous Mk1 releases, the Diffraction and Contact, combining them into something wholly unique in our lineup. We’re excited for it. Are you?

I documented the design and production process on YouTube in a video series called Mk1 Mechanics. I encourage you to watch it to explore the entire development process from start to finish. There are quite a few already in the playlist, but expect a few more videos to round out the end of this yoyo’s journey to completion.
You can also follow along in the YoyoExpert discussion thread for this yoyo.
The Spyglass has a compact round shape with a deep undercut near the response, carefully tuned to match the material location of the circular steps in the cup. Compared to other Mk1 yoyos, it’s smaller and denser, giving it a unique feel while still having good performance.

There were two primary design goals with this yoyo. First, I wanted to put some broad steel rims on a yoyo to showcase the bimetal look. I’ve always enjoyed the shiny style of big bimetals, both during casual play and under stage lights. Second, I wanted to bring the stepped cup of the Diffraction back into the Mk1 lineup. I have enjoyed that cup design since the very first moment with it, but it isn’t usually the right one for a yoyo to use. Here it is again, in a yoyo specifically designed for it!

A third less important force was to keep the yoyo design very rounded. This helped keep the yoyo comfortable, and powerful, and it also handed me an opportunity to utilize a schmoove groove once again. This cool feature optimizes midweight without affecting the cup’s design, and here it felt natural to include.

It was tremendously fun to design this yoyo out in the open, showcasing the various design techniques and thought processes that I use to create yoyos. My sincere hope is that it will inspire more people to take an interest in this art.
Diameter: 53.0mm Width: 43.9mm Mass: 63.9g Material: 7075 Al + stainless steel Axle: 8mm Bearing: C Response: 19mm slim pads
You’ll be able to get the Mk1 Spyglass yoyo in the United States beginning on June 24th for $100.
B-grades are available at the Mk1 store.
Developing the Sliver
The design of the Sliver, a new yoyo from Mk1 and Spiral, began with a threat.

Jamie (Spiral owner) immediately responded with some slimline/mini thoughts, and a 37mm wide concept that he had been working on intermittently. This was back in 2020, early in the year, before even the Kappa had released.
Talk about a collab subsided for a couple months, interspersed with design questions like, “how wide do you think a bimetal could be before it blasts itself apart?”. I got distracted and worked on the Exia, and some counterweight ideas. Jamie was working on the P40-Warhawk. We traded ideas and tips back and forth. He was preparing for the Kappa release, I had just dropped the Umbra. We talked about yoyos a lot, philosophically.

In May, we got back on track, looking up different slimline widths, and found a range to explore between Heshgod Petri (28mm) and SF 36 (36mm). I made this rough draft:

Jamie sent me his version:
We go back and forth like this for a couple hours until we take a break to think of a name for the collab. Mostly we found cool names that had already been used on other yoyos. Since we’re pals, I bought a Kappa and he bought an Umbra. We like each other’s yoyos, which is a good sign, always. We traded some MTG anecdotes with each other, which I suppose is an omen of things to come! Plus, this important exchange:
I want a good slimline unresponsive that isn’t punishing
– me
bro yes let’s make a GOOD slimline
– jamie
Several months later (July 2020), Jamie sent me a file called “heck.x_t” which contained a yoyo design.

I sent back a revision where the rims were rounded over.

We didn’t even have a working title for the yoyo, having abandoned plenty of great ideas that were already in use.

Eventually, finally, we thought of something passable: “dither”, referencing a pixel art technique where two colors are blended using a checkerboard or other pattern, which adds texture + the appearance of a third virtual color. It’s a metaphor for how we created the yoyo, of course.
Through this process the design got refined down to something really close to what you see in the production version. 6061, flat cup, same dimensions. We discussed the ‘small’ 8mm axle and decided to simply put it through a stress test once we got the prototypes.
We were happy with it, our teams were happy with it, so it was time to order some. So, I did. And we got the first prototype photos in August, along with the Mk1 Contact, which I was prototyping at the same time.


Later, they came in the mail.

We sent them to the team for feedback, and got a couple notes that resulted in changes for a 2nd prototype. Of note, the weight dropped, the rim cut in the profile got pulled back a bit, and some of the fillets were made more round. The next round of prototypes were blue rim dip, just to try something new. It took a bit to get around to this, due to other yoyo releases, but in February 2021, we placed the order. This is also when Jamie came up with the final name for the yoyo:

The 2nd sliver prototypes arrived at the same time as the 2nd Contact run. They looked cool! I shipped them out for team testing and got to work on the other various MK1 stuff that I had been putting my time into.

The CAD file ended up not changing from this version, but the other really long part of yoyo production was still left – picking colors, designing engravings, coming up with a box & a sticker. This was a collab, and a special one, so I wanted to get really deep into it.
Given the new name & theme, I contacted one of my M:TG friends who had been working on card proxies, and hired her to design box art based roughly on the look of Tempest pre-con decks. This was combined with custom art from a friend-of-a-friend.



The box was designed to fit Magic cards, though it’s thicker than usual to accommodate the yoyo.
For colorways, we settled on making some raws, 2 rim masks, 2 fades, and 2 solid colors. This sort of symmetry makes the reasoning process easier for me, and also provides a handy way to organize the yoyos once they arrive. Of all the colorways, the PK Sliver took the longest to develop, due to the newness and intricacy of the engraving. It’s striking in person, and we all hope you enjoy it (or whichever colorway you get).
The colorway development process usually involves tons and tons of 3d renders, which I’ll spare you. Instead, here’s a photo of the results.

There we go. That’s the tale of the Mk1 x Spiral SLIVER yoyo. I hope you enjoyed it. Maybe you can be part of the story?
This yoyo releases on Friday, January 21st, at 8PM Eastern right here on Mk1yoyos.com and on Throwspiral dot com. (Also yoyoexpert, yoyosam, yoyotricks, and yoyoworld)
Mk1 and Spinworthy – The RBC
The RBC yoyo is a collaborative effort between MK1 Yoyos and Spinworthy. The idea behind this project was to take one of Spinworthy’s popular wooden models, the Blood Cell, and recreate it in high-quality 7068 alloy as a hollow, tug-responsive yoyo.
The RBC uses a very small MR85 bearing, 5x8x2.5mm in size, and custom pads that take advantage of the small diameter of the bearing. The gap is narrow (2.3mm) to keep it very snappy, making it pleasant for modern responsive stall-based play, shoot the moons, and for classic yoyo tricks.
MK1 team member EOS has a signature colorway of the RBC. Check it out!
The RBC yoyo is available here on MK1, and also at YoyoExpert, YoyoSam, and YoyoTricks.com.

44Tutorials
Mk1 team member EOS44 has been very, very busy in the yoyo tutorial sphere with great intermediate to advanced content.
Here’s some recent videos that we recommend!
Make sure you subscribe here.
Mk1 Contact 2nd Run – Releasing July 30th
It’s back! The Mk1 Contact yoyo is re-releasing July 30th at UK Throw, YoyoSam, YoyoExpert, and YoyoTricks. Find out more about the Contact or watch a review or two.
The Mk1 Contact will be $45 for solids and $50 for splashes/fades/dips.

This release includes five all-new colorways for the contact, including two signature colorways for Mk1 team members Connor and Luis. Show your support!
All B-grades will be available here on the Mk1 Shop the week following the release for a discounted price.
Mk1 Umbra Yoyo Re-release
The Umbra is available once more. All 5 colorways + raw are available here on our web shop.
You can also find it at YoyoExpert, YoyoSam, and YoyoTricks.
It will be coming soon to both Yoyoworld.dk and Slusny, so be on the lookout!
Mk1 Yoyos x Luis Lizardo
Luis is a friendly, supportive person who makes everything around him more positive. I first met him when I was starting out my own yoyo journey, back when I was making and trading hand-made yoyo strings with people. I even made him a terrible metal string that he apparently never received.
Last year, we got talking again, and things lined up to where we wanted to work together in yoyo. I’m very excited to present: Luis Lizardo.
Make sure you follow Luis on Instagram.
MK1 x HD
Big shoutout to Connor. Welcome to the team!
Mk1 Contact
The Mk1 Contact is an lightweight organic yoyo that releases on February 27th at YoyoExpert, YoyoSam, YoyoWorld, and YoYoTricks. $45 for solids, $50 for fades.
- Diameter 56.9mm
- Width 45.3mm
- Mass 62.6g
- Material 6061 aluminum
- 10mm axle and wide C bearing for unresponsive yoyoing
- 8mm axle and slim C bearing for responsive yoyoing





