Asics has used the late spring window to release the Magic Speed 4, an update that finally answers the awkward question of how the Japanese brand fits between its Novablast daily trainers and its Metaspeed racing line. The 4 keeps the FF Turbo midsole and full-length carbon plate of the previous generation but ships at a noticeably revised geometry, with a softer initial bite, a higher stack and a $170/£170 price tag that puts it directly opposite the Hoka Mach X 3, the New Balance Rebel V5 and the Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 4 on the daily-carbon-trainer shelf.
Reviewers at Running Warehouse, Believe in the Run and Road Trail Run all describe the Magic Speed 4 as the version that escapes the in-between feel of the 3. The carbon plate is more deeply embedded than in earlier editions and the upper has been pulled tighter at the midfoot, giving the foot a stable platform when the FF Turbo flexes through toe-off. Asics has held the weight at roughly 8.3 ounces in a US men's 9 — a few grams heavier than the Magic Speed 3 — but the extra mass is in the cushioning rather than the plate, which keeps the shoe responsive at threshold paces.
Where the Magic Speed 4 separates itself from the daily-carbon-trainer category is in workout durability. Runners testing the shoe across long mile repeats and tempo runs of an hour or more reported less midsole pack-out than the Hoka Mach X 3 or the Puma Deviate Nitro Elite 4, both of which have been criticised for losing energy return after roughly 250 miles. The Asics-developed FF Turbo, a peba-blended foam that first appeared in the Metaspeed Sky Paris, holds up under repeated workouts even when the foam underneath the plate compresses. Multiple reviewers reported using a single pair across a full marathon training block.
The shoe is not without trade-offs. The same firmness that makes the Magic Speed 4 durable also makes it less comfortable at slow recovery paces, where the carbon plate catches the foot and the tongue can bunch through softer warm-ups. Reviewers cautioned heavier runners and overpronators away from the model, since the carbon plate sits in the centre of the shoe with no medial guidance. As a tempo and workout shoe for runners with a midfoot or forefoot strike, however, the Magic Speed 4 is the most complete carbon-plated training shoe Asics has produced. The brand confirmed it would be available in three colourways from May 2026, with a women's-specific last on the launch calendar for autumn.
For Asics, the Magic Speed 4 closes a gap in a lineup that, after the Metaspeed Sky and Edge Tokyo updates, has been criticised for being thin in the middle ranges. The Novablast 5 lives in the do-everything daily trainer slot, the Superblast 3 sits as a long-run cruiser, and the Magic Speed 4 now slots cleanly between the two, oriented toward the workout day. Asics has held back from the bigger marketing campaigns it ran around the Metaspeed Tokyo Paris launches, but reviewer consensus suggests the Magic Speed 4 may end up the most-recommended carbon-plated trainer of 2026 — quietly the volume seller for a brand that has made the back half of its rotation matter again.