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Page 5 of 6
Blade actions
Because of block-timing, in-distance ripostes will be direct (or with functional, timely disengages), otherwise they will be prey to stop-time. The most definitive blade actions won't give opponents time to react — see Andre Wessels' prise de fers.
Today's flying parries (e.g., beat/parry 7 preceding a back flick) make an audible sound, but often don't remove the opponent's tip or actually defend the target. In "future" fencing, a smart opponent will continue their extension as a remise (appuntata), block-timing any answering riposte. Flying parries are uncontrolled detached or beat parries; one way to assess them is as an offensive preparation on the blade. The flying parry will remain, but will be used less as a material defensive measure, and more as the beginning of a compound offensive action commencing safely from out of distance.
The parry that defends target (i.e., moves tip away from target) will be oppositional and somewhat lingering. This allows the fencer a maximum of control of the opponent's tip, for the longest amount of time, while still being fast. Look at Romankov in the 1989 World Championships for this sort of parry.
Early on, with this new reliance on controlled lateral parries, opponents will be highly sensitive to ripostes. We will be able to parry, twitch the hand, and cause the opponent to search for the riposte they expect. This will be trained out before too long — the winning hand will be calm and unflinching, direct and fast, smart but reflexive.
Binds, transfers, envelopments — offensive actions which displace the opponents' tips, regardless of the opponents' strength or speed — will make a comeback. We don't see them now, because of the hand-in-invitation, flying parry mood which is presently very common. But with tip-attacks and lingering parries, the opponent's blade will more frequently be in a position to be captured by a bind. Indeed, since the tip-to-target time must be as short as possible, most fencers will keep their hand in the high line, which makes them susceptible to these actions (binds require some resistance to work). Training should include how to take over the action when the opponent binds — ceding parries.
The "new" binds won't be slow and deliberate (as they're always practiced in drills), but rather decisive and destructive to the opponent's hand. One aspect of binds is that they are muscley, and a good bind can break an opponent's grip for the remainder of the action — keeping one safe from counter-actions. See how Andre Wessels deals with Points in Line — he charges forward with target inviting, to make opponent hold the line, and then captures it with a close-out at the last moment (c.f. 2003 Shanghai World Cup).
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