Going in with little information, I was not expecting a whole lot of functionality here. I knew there was no backlighting, and I was also aware of the pricing, so I was pleasantly surprised by the time I was writing this review. Sure, a lot of these features are adopted from existing SKUs, and the sell-out feature here is really the stock keycap set itself, but as a whole package, the review sample configuration is one of my favorites to type on and use every day.

From the good build quality to the black and gunmetal grey color scheme, the use of thick PBT keycaps, or the option of rare Cherry MX Green switches, the MasterKeys L PBT is an excellent option for typists and those looking for a solid mechanical keyboard in the sub-$100 price range. The other four switch options, all genuine Cherry MX to boot, provide something for nearly everyone. Now, if they only had Cherry MX Clear switches as an option as well! The onboard Windows/MacOs/Linux as well as QWERTY/Dvorak/Workman layout support goes well with the provided keycap puller in order to swap keycaps to fit any of these layouts, although I would have rather seen a wire-style keycap puller here.

The only real issue for me is the laser etching of the legends, which is the bottleneck in terms of how long this keyboard as a whole remains pristine. The included replacement keycaps also seem to be more of an afterthought than anything else, but given they do not take away from the functionality in any way, I am less inclined to score against this.

Cooler Master has had a reputation of catering to the keyboard enthusiast more so than any other mainstream company in this business, perhaps even to a fault of losing sales and market share in some regions. By introducing multiple lines in their MasterKeys keyboard series, they are aiming to have a product for everyone. The Pro series has single and RGB backlighting, and the non-Pro series takes the bang-for-your-buck approach. At $89 for the MasterKeys L PBT and $79 for the S (TKL) variant, I would say they have definitely done so.