FIFA 17 - sponsored by Visa, MasterCard, McDonalds etc.

[Gray Fox]

It's just dawned on me that I forgot the complete the TOTS SBC this week. I was going to do it after I did the DKT but forgot. Quite frustrating.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Who did you get?
85 Chicharito.

My luck has run out.

[Dan]

Just had a go at one of the tradeable ones. Had to use my untradeable IF Osako, as well as the Handanovic I packed & an untradeable Leno, and ended up getting the 84 Brooks. Not sure whether I'm happy with that or not, considering I had intended on using him in the Bundesliga side, but he's also probably worth less than the cards I used in the SBC.

Might keep him for now & do a couple more with the coins from selling players yesterday, although I'm really not expecting to get much out of it. At least if I get someone shit I can use them in the next one, I guess.

EDIT: 85 Gameiro in the second. Might put them both in for one last one tomorrow.

[Gray Fox]

I've just picked up an 86 Firmino fresh for 110k. He usually sells for about 120k+

Considering he's been out of packs for nigh on 3 months I think that's a steal!

[7om]

I love this squad building challenges mode. I've got complete and utter garbage from all the packs I've opened so far (admittedly only bronze and a few silver) but it's a really innovative and fun idea. It certainly gives scrubs like me a great chance of opening packs I'd never normally be able to open.

I've just been promoted to Division 9 in Seasons so at least I'm making steady progress.

[Gray Fox]

It has to be said, the in-game content this year has been fantastic.

They've introduced dedicated servers(albeit only for FUT Champions modes). The FUT Champions/Weekend League mode itself has completely re-invented the game. Then you have countless SBCs with plenty of differing rewards. Free packs etc.

This is the first Ultimate Team mode where it's possible to get the best players without pouring money into the game or by spending ungodly hours playing.

Also I've just noticed and been confused by the genration date of today on that Firmino. Only then did I look and see there's the 84+ TOTW tradeable. Either way I'm happy. I've now 140k left. I could sell a defender(Ogbonna/Alonso) and take my coins up to about 200k. That'd buy me a Pogba too.
Alternatively I could also sell Aguero and look at an 89 Lukaku.

[John]

The Nacho Fernandez they're giving out for winning the DKT next week is obscene. Anchor card on there and you've got Sergio Ramos. I'll be picking up TOTS Oblak, N'Zonzi, and Carrasco to take the places of their own IFs in my side, and Nacho will come in to replace Godin. If coins become an issue I can bin 93 Marcelo and replace him with his 92 or TOTS Luis and come out with an extra half a million or so coins for little to no loss in quality, which is a handy option to have.

Agree with Fox that they've played a blinder with the new modes this year. The SBCs need tightening up a little, and I think the introduction of scaled rewards based on a number of matches you pick at the start of the weekend would be a good idea, but overall they've done very well.

[Yevrah]

Next year I'd like to see (some of) the SBC's expanded to cover kits, badges, staff etc. Giving a reason for everything to be useful at some stage.

I'd also like expanded game modes, so you could put your team into a season of the Premier League, Champions League etc. Might only work offline, but it'd be a start.

[John]

https://i.gyazo.com/6be6b3a5a913040b619109e83367b9d3.png

Look at that for a freebie. :drool:

[Yevrah]

Would any of you that are good at the game (good enough to get that card fairly comfortably) be arsed to whack a video up here of you playing one of the matches en route, talking through what you're doing?

I can (and have) watched people like Boras Legend online and while their tips are good, they're so good at the game it's akin to Chopin trying to teach a chimp to play the piano.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://i.gyazo.com/6be6b3a5a913040b619109e83367b9d3.png

Look at that for a freebie. :drool:

That's made me change the team I was going to use ever so slightly:

https://www.futbin.com/17/squad/3995070

Was going to have Birthday Luiz and TOTS Piszczek instead but this will be more within my budget.

[Waffdon]

Would any of you that are good at the game (good enough to get that card fairly comfortably) be arsed to whack a video up here of you playing one of the matches en route, talking through what you're doing?

I can (and have) watched people like Boras Legend online and while their tips are good, they're so good at the game it's akin to Chopin trying to teach a chimp to play the piano.

Ultra defensive, 4321 and counter attack with fast black men up front.

[Yevrah]

Is that seriously the way you go Waff?

Built Joe Hart into the team and in doing so spent a few coins.

https://s30.postimg.org/u6wpu33fl/Untitled.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/me6223xgd/)

Smalling in for 4,100
Keane in for 12,000
Cole in for 18,000
Lallana in for 35,250
Alli in for 50,000

Think that spells the end for IF Cameron and Gundogan (who I didn't much like at all), leaving a second team of:

Butland
Walker
Alonso
Van Dijk
Stones
Kouyate
Gueye
Dembele
Barkley
Rashford
Jesus

And SBC Suarez as the 23rd man.

[Gray Fox]

Would any of you that are good at the game (good enough to get that card fairly comfortably) be arsed to whack a video up here of you playing one of the matches en route, talking through what you're doing?

I can (and have) watched people like Boras Legend online and while their tips are good, they're so good at the game it's akin to Chopin trying to teach a chimp to play the piano.

I'd do this, but beyond the Xbox DVR I've no way of doing so. Unless I stream it to Twitch I guess?

I also don't wish to start playing yet. There's reports of people disconnecting all over the place. Just what you need.

[Yevrah]

Cheers Fox.

I'm on Twitch, so could watch you there.

I'm out/busy this afternoon, but free tomorrow or whenever's convenient.

One other question, did you have that insane SBC Torres? If so, how come you're not using him anymore?

[John]

I really like the look of that Firmino up front with a pacey partner. With the right card on him you could use him like a Bergkamp figure.

[Yevrah]

In fact, a game at some time would be good if that works Fox and you can tell me first hand where I'm going wrong.

I'd really like to be good at FIFA 18 and spend the year doing reasonably at the weekend league etc.

[John]

I had the birthday Torres, Yev, and while he's not as good as the SBC one he still has fairly bonkers stats that he doesn't come near to playing up to.

[Yevrah]

I had the birthday Torres, Yev, and while he's not as good as the SBC one he still has fairly bonkers stats that he doesn't come near to playing up to.

That's a shame. Peak Torres should be an awesome card.

What was the issue with him and can you pinpoint why? Looking at the card he has shit balance, but would that be enough to make him a bit shit?

[Yevrah]

I really like the look of that Firmino up front with a pacey partner. With the right card on him you could use him like a Bergkamp figure.

I've only got the 85 (which was my best pull from the untradeable 84+ TOTW by a mile), but I really like him. He's pretty good at almost everything.

[Gray Fox]

Cheers Fox.

I'm on Twitch, so could watch you there.

I'm out/busy this afternoon, but free tomorrow or whenever's convenient.

One other question, did you have that insane SBC Torres? If so, how come you're not using him anymore?

Yeah that's right. I regret doing most of my expensive SBCs.

This is my bench:

https://gyazo.com/f9f4a5b479dd85c6658a6a5d5caae8d5.png

The first 3 of those are SBC cards I've put roughly 1.1million into doing. I've just no way of getting them into my team right now. It's such a waste.

[John]

That's a shame. Peak Torres should be an awesome card.

What was the issue with him and can you pinpoint why? Looking at the card he has shit balance, but would that be enough to make him a bit shit?

I'd have said the balance was an issue, because where a player with his pace and strength should be blasting through defenders fairly easily he seemed to just get knocked over, but SBC Suarez also has terrible balance along with lower strength but somehow seems much stronger on the ball.

He has poor agility and reactions for a player that good, while Suarez is in the nineties for both, so I reckon that must be the fatal flaw.


I've only got the 85 (which was my best pull from the untradeable 84+ TOTW by a mile), but I really like him. He's pretty good at almost everything.

Yeah it's in your lineup I saw him. I haven't paid much attention to Premiership players this year, is there a better one out?


Yeah that's right. I regret doing most of my expensive SBCs.

This is my bench:

https://gyazo.com/f9f4a5b479dd85c6658a6a5d5caae8d5.png

The first 3 of those are SBC cards I've put roughly 1.1million into doing. I've just no way of getting them into my team right now. It's such a waste.

Fuck sake. :D

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/nGhKjrd.jpg

Made this.

I want that Nacho in DKT.

[John]

He looks so good. His height is a slight worry, but Inigo Martinez is only an inch taller and comfortably the best defender I've used this year. As long as the strength and jumping stats are up to scratch, and they will be since an Anchor card should give him about 96 physical, height is basically irrelevant.

[Danny]

http://i.imgur.com/TAsM8EI.png

Bought the game Tuesday and thats the current squad.

Now to upgrade everything/play around with SBCs

[7om]

Yeah that's right. I regret doing most of my expensive SBCs.

This is my bench:

https://gyazo.com/f9f4a5b479dd85c6658a6a5d5caae8d5.png

The first 3 of those are SBC cards I've put roughly 1.1million into doing. I've just no way of getting them into my team right now. It's such a waste.

Can you tell us your secrets to get players like this?

I've been playing FIFA on and off for a few years and I've never got anywhere near having a team like this. Is it luck, skilled trading, high volumes of games played? I honestly can't fathom how people amass millions of coins on this game. I am forever stuck on 6,000 or less, seemingly.

[Yevrah]

Did you play this year 7om?

Basically three things have made coins much more available.

Weekend League and subsequent rewards.
Squad Building Challenges and their rewards (you can get packs for far below their coin price).
Trading (because of the SBC's) is much easier.

[Gray Fox]

Can you tell us your secrets to get players like this?

I've been playing FIFA on and off for a few years and I've never got anywhere near having a team like this. Is it luck, skilled trading, high volumes of games played? I honestly can't fathom how people amass millions of coins on this game. I am forever stuck on 6,000 or less, seemingly.

It's just longevity really. As Yev says the Weekend League or ''FUT Champions" mode is king. I've taken part almost every weekend since the end of November. This weekend will be the 30th weekend since I first qualified. I've not taken part in all, but if we pretend I have I'll work out my coins. To requalify for the next weekend you need 18 wins. I've done that every time so far. For finishing with 18 wins you get 30k coins and 3 good value packs. If we imagine I got 0 coins back from the packs I've made 900k just from that. But obviously some times you do pull something good and you'll put that over 1 million easily. I don't tend to have much luck in packs you can trade. Whereas my luck is much better when the items are untradeable.

Torres, El Shaarawy and Lacazette were attained by completing Squad Builder Challenges. Essentially you submit a squad to be removed from your club permanently. There will be requirements(say for example, minimum 3 La Liga players, 2 of which are Silver) but once you submit it the players are gone permanently and you get the reward for completing it. This is a pack of varying value, maybe a kit or badge. The higher value ones contain players. The kicker here is they tend to be time limited to a few days and are untradeable. For example Torres was available for 5 days, after that they're gone for good. So you sometimes end up panic buying them before thinking properly. Like I did.

Mertens is a monthly FUT Champions reward. That one is 100% luck, but again untradeable. The last two are rewards given for completing the Daily Knockout Tournament. They're possibly the only ones you could say is down to skill. The problem is I didn't plan all of this out and so now I've built new teams and such, I've a bunch of very expensive cards sat on the bench I can't sell on. Given the cost of them at the time, they are basically the same cost or more expensive than my actual team:

https://i.gyazo.com/ea316e2a8acd5796c8ebf08f24c3e26a.jpg

[Shindig]

Deciding to watch some pro FIFA just to see how that compares with PES.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIdIINFdfwk


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW3du1Zcfcc

FIFA just plays so quickly and it's all along the ground. Both seem very decent defensively with fouls being rare. Pro Evo looks more like football, though. Both finals are scrappy and nervy. FIFA's operating like an unadulterated game. Both engines have landed in very different ball parks. Better commentary and analysis from the FIFA lot. There's more to get into with them being on FUT.

[Gray Fox]

That FIFA final was lost on a gameplay error. If you check the power bar in the bottom left. After the free kick hits the wall he puts full power on for a clearance. But Neymar just runs straight into the player infront and the ball bobbles back for the pass in and goal.

Cost him $80k that.

[Shindig]

Yeah, that looked like a right panic. Nice to see both the PES and FIFA finals go down to the wire like that.

[Danny]

It's just longevity really. As Yev says the Weekend League or ''FUT Champions" mode is king. I've taken part almost every weekend since the end of November. This weekend will be the 30th weekend since I first qualified. I've not taken part in all, but if we pretend I have I'll work out my coins. To requalify for the next weekend you need 18 wins. I've done that every time so far. For finishing with 18 wins you get 30k coins and 3 good value packs. If we imagine I got 0 coins back from the packs I've made 900k just from that. But obviously some times you do pull something good and you'll put that over 1 million easily. I don't tend to have much luck in packs you can trade. Whereas my luck is much better when the items are untradeable.

Torres, El Shaarawy and Lacazette were attained by completing Squad Builder Challenges. Essentially you submit a squad to be removed from your club permanently. There will be requirements(say for example, minimum 3 La Liga players, 2 of which are Silver) but once you submit it the players are gone permanently and you get the reward for completing it. This is a pack of varying value, maybe a kit or badge. The higher value ones contain players. The kicker here is they tend to be time limited to a few days and are untradeable. For example Torres was available for 5 days, after that they're gone for good. So you sometimes end up panic buying them before thinking properly. Like I did.

Mertens is a monthly FUT Champions reward. That one is 100% luck, but again untradeable. The last two are rewards given for completing the Daily Knockout Tournament. They're possibly the only ones you could say is down to skill. The problem is I didn't plan all of this out and so now I've built new teams and such, I've a bunch of very expensive cards sat on the bench I can't sell on. Given the cost of them at the time, they are basically the same cost or more expensive than my actual team:



Thanks for the rundown. I bought it last week too as I said above and the squads some of you are throwing up look insane. Good to understand it more.

I imagine I will struggle to get 18 online games in a week never mind wins!

[Yevrah]

Decided to do a few of the Premier League SBC's today in a futile attempt to pack a TOTS La Liga player. No joy on that front unsurprisingly, but I've done 8 (for a net spend of about 5k coins) in addition to the 4 I'd done previously, to leave 8 left.

Bournemouth
Chelsea
Leicester
Liverpool
Man City
Middlesbrough
Spurs
Sunderland

Given I get 40k for completion I'd be reasonably confident that I can do the above for 0 coins net and while Harry Kane's not particularly good (I think there's a better IF version of him for less than 100k) he would go straight into my squad.

[Yevrah]

Got him.

Took him online, but got matched up against an obscene team (my own is 5 stars now, so wonder if that makes a difference) and lost 7-1. Kane scored the 1 though. :cool:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I do quite like the squad I build above but I'm missing the Don that is Lewandowski, as such I am aiming to build this as soon as I can:

https://www.futbin.com/17/squad/4518533

I NEED to try the TOTS Lewandowski.

[Yevrah]

Talking of Lewandiski, I'm currently powering through the Bunesliga SBC to get him.

How are you getting on with that Martial?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I like him a lot.

He was in my main squad before I went on holiday too. I never got on with his LM variations as well.

Top 3 ST for me personally after 95 Lewandowski and 87 Son (I never tried his 90 before selling it sadly).

[Waffdon]

I must be the only player on FUT who cannot do well with Messi. I really need to nail down the shielding of the ball. You can tell a good player a mile off when they obliterate that and the precision dribbling.

[Yevrah]

What are the buttons for shielding and precision dribbling?

[Dan]

I do quite like the squad I build above but I'm missing the Don that is Lewandowski, as such I am aiming to build this as soon as I can:

https://www.futbin.com/17/squad/4518533

I NEED to try the TOTS Lewandowski.

Would you not be better with Alonso & Azpilicueta instead of Baines & Keane? Also the upgrades versions of Fahrmann & Sokratis are barely any extra - just picked them both up for 28 & 55k respectively.

I keep thinking about doing more of the league SBCs, but then I look at the packs, and most of them are shit, and chances are I wouldn't use many of the actual cards other than Lewa, Suarez & Lacazette, so I'm thinking it's probably more sensible to just cherry pick the ones with good packs & do those - just did the Schalke one for a Premium Gold Players Pack, for instance.

EDIT: Shielding is LT, precision dribbling is holding LT & RT at the same time. I suck at both, my passing is too predictable & I pull players out of position all the time when defending. Also I can't use skill moves.

Still managed to win my first Div. 5 match last night, even if I did score two goals in horrendous lag at the start of the game.

[Waffdon]

I still couldn't for the life of me tell you the actual name of the button but hold the back trigger (sprint+left trigger) for precise dribbling - so much easier to create space. Shielding is just the back left trigger - if you watch the pro FIFA players on YouTube you will notice it.

You should use the fuck out of the balk roll (right analog stick to the left or right) as well. Only a 2* skill move but probably the most effective other than the "Berba spin" but that's not as simple

[Dan]

The Berba spin is great, I just can't use it effectively more than 1% of the time - took me ages to figure out how to do it as I didn't realise you couldn't do it while holding down sprint (another thing I do too much). I never even thought about ball rolls, but having watched a video on skill moves yesterday I tried to use them in a few Kick-Off games. I'm shit at those too.

[Waffdon]

They're brilliant when you're on a counter attack and their centre half is running straight to you - if you time it correctly it's overpowered as fuck. Also when you're at the byline - for whatever reason 9/10 players think you're going to cut inside to shoot but just ball roll to go on the outside and you have a free 10m dash before cutting the ball back for a tap in.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Would you not be better with Alonso & Azpilicueta instead of Baines & Keane? Also the upgrades versions of Fahrmann & Sokratis are barely any extra - just picked them both up for 28 & 55k respectively.

I keep thinking about doing more of the league SBCs, but then I look at the packs, and most of them are shit, and chances are I wouldn't use many of the actual cards other than Lewa, Suarez & Lacazette, so I'm thinking it's probably more sensible to just cherry pick the ones with good packs & do those - just did the Schalke one for a Premium Gold Players Pack, for instance.

EDIT: Shielding is LT, precision dribbling is holding LT & RT at the same time. I suck at both, my passing is too predictable & I pull players out of position all the time when defending. Also I can't use skill moves.

Still managed to win my first Div. 5 match last night, even if I did score two goals in horrendous lag at the start of the game.

Didn't think of them (the IF versions at least).

Edit: I also forgot about the new versions of Fahrmann and Sokratis. Derp.

[The Merse]

Finished 22-10 after a miserable run in the early hours of last night. I know not to play at that time and especially not when I've just come in from 4 hours travel, but I did it anyway and lost 7 on the bounce to go into this morning at 8-12. I lost two of my next 6 and then was panicking I wouldn't even make Gold 3, but fixed up and the afternoon included a ten game winning streak that got me into Gold 2.

Decided to make use of the TOTS Marquinhos earned through the DKO by bringing in Roberto Carlos (380k) to sit alongside him in place of Alba and Ramos. Marquinhos is sat on 8 chem, but having compared him to Ramos on 8 chem, he still represents an upgrade. So my two sides now look like this:

Hybrid 1

Upgrading Augameyang to the TOGS version has definitely been worth it. He was productive anyway, but the additional strength and shooting ability has been noticeable.
So too is the upgrade to TOTS Dembele I packed. The TOTW I was previously employing there was nowhere near as productive. With both he and Aubameyang, their pace already being pretty much maxed means being comfortable using finisher chem styles to really boost up their already great physical and shooting. Mbappe-Lottin was the star this weekend though, averaging a goal a game, which in a 442 is very good going.
http://oi63.tinypic.com/335ebyw.jpg

Hybrid 2

Herrera has been a massive upgrade on Kante. He might not buzz around quite as much, but he's defensively very good and offers more going forward in spades. I'd really like to bring Lacazette into this side, in place of Gray but can't bring myself to drop Aguero to 8 chem.

http://oi68.tinypic.com/2dc7rkg.jpg

It's with some sadness that this years edition comes to a close. SBC's and FUT Champs have given me the opportunity to build teams I never could have previously, and may never do again (time being the factor in future endeavours - the first few months of this edition were well timed for me to sink time into it).

[Gray Fox]

Stopped at 18-9 myself. At one point I shipped out Firmino and Aguero and brought in TOTS Keane and 88 Lukaku. The latter is particularly lol. He doesn't feel as fast obviously, but that 99 strength sure is useful. He ended up picking up 14 goals in his 9 games.

Playing full TOTS teams is frustrating in heavy gameplay. I'm fine if I'm allowed to shift the ball quickly, but when it's heavy and you have to take a touch first, it's hard.

[Shindig]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4XgyDLYRHM

IGN's take on FIFA 18. Featuring footage from FIFA 17 because they haven't got much yet. The crowd stuff sounds fun until you've seen it a dozen times. And the first point about off-the-ball stuff can't be hammered home when the guy's talking about stuff you do in possession.

[Gray Fox]

Something else I noted this weekend was how hard it was to come by a squad fitness card.

They are insta-selling for 1.5k, whether they be bronze or silver. Some bronze packs needed to be opened if it's going to be like that.

[Yevrah]

Yeah, I flogged a few golds from my SBC packs for 1,600 pretty easily too.

[Gray Fox]

Upgraded that 88 Lukaku to the 89 because fuck it. I'm hoping the extra +2 in dribbling is worth the extra 50k spent.

Team now looks like this:

https://i.gyazo.com/220b2fe0a7ca8a13a10b2859772138fe.png

The only two that show as out of place are Shaw and Dembele. I did try Pogba again over the weekend but I really cant get on with him. I find him too sluggish. I'm literally down to my last 5k coins now, but I've no fitness or anything. There's an obvious upgrade at left back in 85 Alonso, but I think Dembele is necessary to keep Mertens on 7 chemistry.

[Waffdon]

Lukaku is another player I'm shite with. I think I'm only suited to 4* skillers and folk with great agility up top. (Hi Ben Yedder)

[Yevrah]

I too am shit (ok, even shitter) with Lukaku.

Decided to do the Odjidja-Ofoe SBC, not really worth it but only cost me 19k plus an Untradeable Gabi I had in the club.

Think I'll whack him in my PL team + Joe Hart so I meet the requirements for the offline loan legends cup.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I was shit with Lukaku too (the scream one) which is strange as he should be great for my style of play.

[Gray Fox]

I scored 14 in 9 with his 88 card. Now I know I tend to force feed the ball a bit more to the newer purchase but even so, he seems like he has a cannon of a left foot.

I also found he was a great out ball. If I was under pressure just lumping it in his direction was great.

[The Merse]

Upgraded that 88 Lukaku to the 89 because fuck it. I'm hoping the extra +2 in dribbling is worth the extra 50k spent.

Team now looks like this:

https://i.gyazo.com/220b2fe0a7ca8a13a10b2859772138fe.png

The only two that show as out of place are Shaw and Dembele. I did try Pogba again over the weekend but I really cant get on with him. I find him too sluggish. I'm literally down to my last 5k coins now, but I've no fitness or anything. There's an obvious upgrade at left back in 85 Alonso, but I think Dembele is necessary to keep Mertens on 7 chemistry.

Have you lost a lot buying and selling players you're using? Seems odd you'd be skint with a not unreasonably expensive side (given the free Mertens and that Son was an inexpensive SBC), given how much time you've ploughed into this.

[Dan]

I too am shit (ok, even shitter) with Lukaku.

Decided to do the Odjidja-Ofoe SBC, not really worth it but only cost me 19k plus an Untradeable Gabi I had in the club.

Think I'll whack him in my PL team + Joe Hart so I meet the requirements for the offline loan legends cup.

How have you found Odjidja-Ofoe? He looks decent, but I didn't fancy chucking the coins away on him.

I'm also doing that Loan Legends tournament, as well as the Fursan one, to try to practice my defending. Been watching a few videos & I feel like i've been slightly less shit since I started working on it. That'll all immediately fall apart in a real game, mind.

[Yevrah]

Realised that having Joe Hart and Ashley Cole meant I already met the requirements so I haven't used him yet sadly.

Had a go with Lewandowski earlier, surely has the best shot I've used so far.

[Yevrah]

What camera view do you guys use for Ultimate Team?

I'm on the co-op one for the extra pitch view, but I'm not sure how much that helps me with close control.

[Dan]

Tele, custom with 9 height & zoom. Never really played around with the camera too much, actually. Only recently fiddled with it when I had to uninstall & set everything up again, then realised the camera looked different & I had no idea what I'd had it set at before.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Tele broadcast with 19 height and 3 zoom.

Krasi said it's good and I feel my game getting better the more I use it.

[Gray Fox]

Have you lost a lot buying and selling players you're using? Seems odd you'd be skint with a not unreasonably expensive side (given the free Mertens and that Son was an inexpensive SBC), given how much time you've ploughed into this.

Yes definitely. I've also put nearly 1 million into SBC players now on my bench, but mainly I'm losing coins by changing up the team so much. It didn't happen so much until I started hitting the expensive players. When you consider you lose 15k just by selling someone for 300k it starts to hit home a little.
Still, all lesssons learned for FIFA 18.

[Dan]

Russian league & Primera Division today. Only seen the Russian league but there are some good players in there.

The SBC needs one player from each league, min 3 nationalities, min 2 gold players & 90 chem. I've just done it within the club with a mostly Colombian team.

[Yevrah]

I've got loads of Russians in my club as I kept them from SBC's anticipating this, but not many Argentine league players I don't think...

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I needed to buy 1 (a CB for 400) and did a largely La Liga team as I had a Chilean geezer to give a link.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.futbin.com/17/player/18971/Promes

Stick a maestro or marksman card on him and holy fuck.

[Dan]

Tagliafico looks like the (slightly worse) LB version of TOTS Semedo. Acuna looks like a beast too.

An Argentina/Portugal hybrid would be delightful if they had one good CB between them.

[Yevrah]

Back to the gameplay. Against the high pressing scumbags how do you all cope with goal kicks? If I pass out to my full backs they nick the ball off me (due to being close enough to my defenders to dry hump them), but if I go long I lose the ball more often than I'd like.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I go long.

Even if you lose it there is less danger of getting fucked as you've got players behind the ball who can react.

[Gray Fox]

Aim at Lukaku. Just short of full power. Proceed with attack. :cool:

[Dan]

Manuel Fernandes has an all 90+card with an Anchor card on him :drool: He, as well as a few others, appear to have gone the way of Semedo & had their price set way too low for their quality. Also, if Manuel Fernandes is that good imagine how good TOTS Radja is going to be on Friday.

As for goal kicks, I go long a lot, but I do try to get it short to a defender or chip it short to a CM if possible.

[Gray Fox]

I reckon they'll have Nainggolan as everything 90+ except for pace. They'll make that 89 just to troll people.

[Dan]

Yeah, I can see that happening. Have there been (m)any all 90+ cards in FUT before?

[Lemmo]

Not played in about 2-3 weeks. Any sign of Calcio A TOTS? I'll probably return for that.

[Yevrah]

Has there been an update in the last 24 hours? Shooting feels markedly different.

[Yevrah]

TOTS Semedo's max BIN has been raised to 200k from 100k. I still have him. :cool:

[Dan]

Calcio A should drop on Friday, Lemmo.

Yev :cool: I can imagine him still being extinct at that price too.

EDIT: Futbin suggests loads have been put up at or just under 100k :cab: There's one up at 100k BIN that's got to 20mins left without any bids on it too.

[Yevrah]

Yeah, there's loads on now at pretty cheap amounts, but maybe that's just an initial flourish. I've put mine up for 150k (as I'd take that), but if he doesn't sell I'm happy to keep him/try again later.

[Dan]

I just picked one up for 101k, in the hope that he does rise over the next few days, so he'll inevitably be 40k by Friday.

[Yevrah]

Did the 5th TOTS SBC earlier. Used what I had in the club plus a couple of Spaniards from the transfer market to finish it off.

Given the reward is untradeable (and I'd be amazed if I pulled anyone I actually want to use - either from the TOTS card or the Ultimate Pack) it's all a bit pointless really.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I'm not sure what is happening.

The last 2 DKT's I've tried (Sigurdsson and now Nacho) I've won in my first attempt.

Also, the latest TOTW might be the worst they've ever done.

Kimmich looks like the best card but they've killed him by making him a centre back.

[Dan]

That Mercado should be solid - a La Liga CB with more than 80 pace for less than 30k. Really helps my potential Portugal/Argentina hybrid too.

[The Merse]

Won the DKO on first time of asking. Now I'm totally lost as to what to do with Nacho. I could use him to play Carvajal's TOTS at some stage, but I'm more likely I think to just trade him in the Real Madrid SBC given I've only them and Atletico to go.

[Dan]

Should have done that yesterday, then entered again today & got a second one.

[Yevrah]

Won the offline cup that gives you a loan legends pack as a reward tonight.

Got Robert Pires for 5 games in my pack, which is a pain as I don't use a formation with a LM in it. Still, I can bring him off the bench. The rest of the pack was a load of untradeable gold crap.

I couldn't get on with IF Dele Alli in central midfield, so I sold him, losing 2,500 coins on the tax and going back to Emer Can's standard card. I love IF Lallana though, so maybe I just struggle playing natural CAM's in central midfield.

Also moved to 4-3-2-1, which I'm really enjoying. Tempted to pair SBC Suarez with Messi and Ronaldo when I finally build the final team.

[Dan]

Pires must be horrible - I didn't even realise he was in the game :D I got Scholes from mine, which is okay I guess. While we're talking about it, what do we all think about the Icons so far?

That Fursan tournament is actually pretty neat - you get the kit the first time you do it, 5k the second time, then it just gives you untradeable premium gold packs. I'm probably going to spam it to build up loads of free consumables & players.

[Yevrah]

Icons are just legends re-branded, so as long as there are as many icons as there were Legends on XB1 then I'll take it. I don't really use them on this version, but I suspect I'll end up with an astronomical amount of coins by this time next year through starting FIFA 18 at launch, so I'll probably give them a whirl.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I can't wait.

I really wanted to make a United side featuring legends this year. Next year though :drool:

[Dan]

There's a leaked image of planned Icons out there. (https://www.dreamteamfc.com/c/gaming/233053/fifa-18-icons-3/)

Can't help feeling the stats on some of them are a bit wonky, but they're all worth including.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

If those are true then lol.

Lahm has more pace than his TOTS card and all he had to do was retire.

Also, that Makelele is obscene.

[Gray Fox]

So this is a thing...

https://i.gyazo.com/68204c8d6438e48e8fe92465043989d4.png

I don't believe there's ever been a player on FIFA with 90+ in every card stat. Mental.

[Waffdon]

Koulibaly is the best card I've ever seen. He's about 6ft5 isn't he?!

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Close, 6 4.

[Dan]

Those cards are going to be rather expensive, aren't they?

Almost the whole Calcio TOTS is beastly - probably about four cards in there that aren't at least passable.

[Waffdon]

Scrap what I've said, both Dybala and Mertens are stupidly good and are somehow only 95 rated.

[Gray Fox]

875397517873078272

I want it all and I want it now.

[John]

Mertens is the first player this year who basically looks like a cheat code.

[Waffdon]

Compare his card to Griezmann's TOTS...

Absolutely bonkers.

[The Merse]

Balde Diao with a Marksman :drool:

Khedira is likely to be proper cunt to play through. His 83 card just sits exactly where you don't want him to be 99.9% of matches vs him.

[The Merse]

Marquee Matchups went well again. Spent 8k getting a couple of MLS players and pulled a TOTS walkout in my rewards, unfortunately only Smolov, but he has just sold for 70k so I'm happy with that. Also got a TOTW in my FUT rewards but it's that slow as fuck 82 Wagner who is basically a discard. Pulled 3 84's in a single pack otherwise though, so should make a total of 70k odd through the fitness, contracts, 45k reward amount and selling a couple of pulled players.

[Lemmo]

The 89 Mertens is basically cheating let alone that beast.

Some of those are going to be a serious price which will probably rule me out unless I get a chance to play the weekend league. Not quite sure how Perisic hasn't got one.

[Gray Fox]

The 89 Mertens is basically cheating let alone that beast.

Some of those are going to be a serious price which will probably rule me out unless I get a chance to play the weekend league. Not quite sure how Perisic hasn't got one.

No word on the 24th player yet. It's either Perisic, Brozovic or a right back, as there isn't one listed in the team. Maybe Florenzi? Surely they'd not put Alves as that reward.

[Gray Fox]

I've also done the DKT for Nacho. Played a cobbled together fitness team in round one as I refused to pay 1.6k for a bronze fitness card. I won 2-0, 2-1, 6-0 and 6-2 to claim it on my first go. R1 saw a rage quit in the 30th or so, while the final saw the guy leave after about 80 mins. The 89 Lukaku ended up with 9 goals in 3 games, including a belter of a free kick I'm trying to upload. He's insane. The dribbling upgrade seems well worth it over his 88 version and there's no defender throwing him off the ball.

After playing those my rewards were available and I got 2 walkouts from 3 packs. One was Ozil which is disappointing at this stage of the game. The other was TOTS Dzyuba. Great to see the blue flare but it's such a tease with the big boy TOTS out there. Still I'm back up to 80k with a bunch of rare golds still there. Only 4 squad fitness picked up though, so I'll have to hit the bronze packs.

[Yevrah]

Did the marquee matchups last night and 7 SBC's from Serie A, opening the packs this morning.

Pulled TOTS Fernando, Iniesta and TOTS Smolov from the packs. The latter seemingly goes for an amount that almost covers the entire outlay I spent on the above. I'd like to use him as he looks beastly, but might just take the cash.

TOTS Fernando is going into a Brazil team with TOTS Carlos Eduardo. I wonder if there are enough TOTS Brazilians from dodgy leagues to make a fairly cheap, but cracking side. I'm 2/11ths of the way there.

[Yevrah]

Why does Tuca Fererreti a random Brazilian manager based in Mexico go for over 3,000 coins? Is he the only Brazilian manager in the game or something?

[Yevrah]

Smolov sold for 75k coins, up to 2.2m and still a shit load to sift through from the packs opened this morning, which will have to wait until Sunday.

[Shindig]

Don't know what to make of FIFA 18's gameplay. Plus the only videos out are of 1 v 1 so I can't judge the AI. Looks nice and the Monumental has a lot of toilet paper and confetti but it looks like it plays like last year's game. Same can kinda be said for PES, except the AI seems more about slowing the game down when it needs to. Plus the kick-off has changed in line with last year's regulations. Plus you can zoom your view out on set-pieces a little.

[The Merse]

Don't know what to make of FIFA 18's gameplay. Plus the only videos out are of 1 v 1 so I can't judge the AI. Looks nice and the Monumental has a lot of toilet paper and confetti but it looks like it plays like last year's game. Same can kinda be said for PES, except the AI seems more about slowing the game down when it needs to. Plus the kick-off has changed in line with last year's regulations. Plus you can zoom your view out on set-pieces a little.

I'm up for small iterative adjustments to FIFA 17's formula. It plays well on mostly, needs AI touch up to address the old EAids and defensive mentality creating a solid wall of players but which doesn't hamper moving the ball from the back to front (there needs to be balancing as at the moment it's just too OP) and for them to concentrate on the more successful SBC's and fine tune FUT Champs.

[Yevrah]

I'd like to see a FUT Champs Division 2 or something, with lesser rewards, for shit players like me.

[Shindig]

I just wouldn't mind teams having more personality to them. Instead of some generic philosophy that they all seem to share. The AI will always defend with relentless pressure and narrow things out. I feel like in PES you have to think more about tempo and making sure your mistakes aren't costly. At the other end, you can force the AI into mistakes, which is nice and you'll will find teams can play their way into the game.

[John]

We know. PES is the best, FIFA is the worst.

Nacho is excellent but he's been devalued a little by essentially the same player coming out in the TOTW. Mercado sells for about fifteen thousand coins and he's every bit as good. IF Bakambu is seriously good too. Stick a Hawk on there and you're looking at maxed pace and ninety plus for positioning, finishing, shot power, volleys, strength, and jumping for about thirty thousand coins.

[Lemmo]

We know. PES is the best, FIFA is the worst.

Nacho is excellent but he's been devalued a little by essentially the same player coming out in the TOTW. Mercado sells for about fifteen thousand coins and he's every bit as good. IF Bakambu is seriously good too. Stick a Hawk on there and you're looking at maxed pace and ninety plus for positioning, finishing, shot power, volleys, strength, and jumping for about thirty thousand coins.

May check him out for a second team, regular Bakambu was one of my favourite strikers as the start of Ultimate Team this year.

[Shindig]

We know. PES is the best, FIFA is the worst.

Not entirely. FIFA's a better online / multiplayer thing. I tend to play a lot of my football solo, hence why I don't want to play FIFA against the AI and run out of steam. Plus the presentation is always great from EA. And they've got more stuff out of the gate.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I've decided on what I want my squad to be:

http://i.imgur.com/ovekIMy.jpg

Should be able to get it, hopefully I can keep hold of MOTM Kante but I might have to downgrade.

I wanted a TOTS Lewandowski squad but then I saw that 90 Lacazette.

http://i.imgur.com/RBQkBLR.png

Being 5 foot 8 is a bit shit but that agility and balance coupled with his strength is appealing.

[John]

99 jumping renders his height basically irrelevant.

TOTS N'Zonzi is bonkers.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

His 86 was one of the few cards I got on with in my attempts at La Liga squads.

Can't believe how cheap his TOTS is.

[Gray Fox]

Because people panic when they dont see PACE on a card. No matter that he is like the great wall of France, but you can't go over him.

Luckily the midfield isn't all about pace. Except you Kanté. Fuck you and your 92 card.

[John]

You can get him to 80 pace with the right chemistry card, so he's not even particularly slow. His SIF was just a double hard bastard in the middle of the park with good enough passing to start the attack after taking the ball off whatever striker he'd just killed and eaten. The TOTS does that, but you can also dribble round people like he's Ben Arfa and biff in thirty yarders with a cracking success rate. He's basically perfect.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.futbin.com/17/player/19104/Jos%C3%A9%20Callej%C3%B3n

Callejon the 24th man.

I'll pass.

[Gray Fox]

That's the first one that's quite underwhelming. The card itself looks good, but 2* weak foot makes it almost unusable. I nearly lost my 2nd round game this DKT because of Dembeles 2* weak foot. With a finesse shot, inside the 6 yard line he put the ball wide. Luckily I grabbed a goal late on to negate it, but it could have been telling.

i'm wondering if the EA FC TOTS will have a 24th man. So far we've seen 87-90 rated players who, but for Marquinhos really, would likely be the cheapest(or close to) offering of their respective teams. The EA team will likely contain all of the mid-to-high 90's guys, so a potential 24th man might be a very good card. It'd be nice to see as the game will be almost done by then.

In truth I think I've not got long left. Motivation to play the WL is almost non-existent and I've played over a thousand games this FIFA. It may be time soon for the recharging break.

[Gray Fox]

It also turns out I'm a bit of a dummy. Mertens in my set-up would stay on 8 chemistry no matter who I put in the CM spot behind him. Though the player behind would have to maintain chemistry with members of the defence/midfield. The way that makes most sense is to move Herrera over to be my central CM. However Smalling would have to come back in for him to gain 10 chem. This gives me free reign on my LCM. As long as they play in the Premier League it's good. Having to play Smalling also negates Keane as I like Ogbonna too much. This means I should probably sell Keane on and take my coins up to near 170k.

I wouldn't mind trying out TOTS Lallana here but he's too expensive this week(he hovers just over 200k). Other options include 88 Eriksen, De Bruyne, Pogba, 866 Yaya Toure, 85 Emre Can, 84 Gueye or I could upgrade Kante to his 85 card.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just need about 380k for TOTS Alli now.

Would probably get it by quick selling all club items and useless consumables I have.

[Gray Fox]

I've had a look through my consumables after seeing that and found a few CF > CAM cards that are 4k each, I sold them.

I also have 101 of those gold shiny contracts as well as 185 standard contracts. The shiny ones seem to go for 250/300 BIN but only at the end of the hour as you just can't scroll through them. I've but 30 up for 250/300 to see how many sell. Obviously I could afford to lose all of those shiny ones and probably 100 of the standards. That's potentially near on 50k sat there, but the only issue being they wont all sell in one go and could take several cycles round.

I'm up to 180k having sold Keane. It's just a matter of how much can be raised from these comsumables. I could go for the one big purchase or 2 good ones depending on the haul. I'd love to be in the position to be able to do 2 big buys, but I'm not sure this week. 85 Alonso is pretty much needed for his extra strength and stamina over Shaw.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I knew that jumping was a pretty important factor but I was still dubious with Lacazette's height but John was right, the 99 makes it a non issue.

I just played a game where he scored twice and was a general menace winning every single header.

[Danny]

I have been watching a few videos on youtube, mostly Hashtag Harry (what a shithouse name despite the decent channel), and I guess i need to start doing the snidey little cutbacks if I want to be good at this game then?

I swear he scores like that every game.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/V3uPtLg.jpg

This community :wub:

I scored 2 quick goals, then he got 2 long range shots in before scoring a third in extra time that was a blatant foul on my defender. He deserved to win but I didn't expect the glorious message.

Also, this might be my favourite chip goal thus far:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu5xpaRK7Os

Thauvin is brilliant.

[John]

Thauvin has 95 strength or something doesn't he? I have an Architect card on Bale to put him on that at RW and it's invaluable. It's not often he comes up against a full back he can't dump into the first row of seating.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

96 with Hawk.

http://i.imgur.com/aHStlh1.png

If he had 4* or better weak foot he'd be near perfect.

[John]

Fuck sake. Did you actually get N'Zonzi?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yeah, the only one that I don't have from the squad I posted is TOTS Alli (I'm using his POTM for now).

He's a brick wall but I think he's slightly lost in a 4321, as a CDM I don't think anyone would get past him.

I might switch to 433(3) actually.

As ever I'm finding the 4321 great at attacking but I can get caught too often defensively. Hesitant to change it being 6-3 right now.

[John]

He isn't really suited to being as wide as he is in that formation but he should still be good enough that he isn't an issue.

Is 433(3) the one with two CMs and a CDM? If so that's the one I use and he's an immovable object as the CDM. Swallows attackers whole.

TOTS Jonathan Viera is a fucking revelation. Popped him into my midfield partnering Kovacic and he's currently contributing to over a goal a game after a little over forty games. He just breaks through the middle at the perfect moment every time and at times it feels like there's two men up front. Anyone with a La Liga side, or one that could accommodate him at least, try him out. Worth a hundred times the fluff and buttons he'll cost.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

2 CDM's.

The one with 1 is the second variation.

I might switch to that in game.

[Gray Fox]

These contracts sold way better when I had some space inbetween them. Clicking re-list all seems to only sell one or two at a time. Could be a fluke, could be people don't like buying when they see a full page worth of my cards. Still it's got me up to 195k now.

I can pick up TOTS Lallana or just about get both 85 Alonso and 88 Eriksen.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I wish I hadn't changed. Dropped 3 games in a row.

Also, 90% of the goals I've conceded have been from long distance with De Gea just falling over.

[John]

These contracts sold way better when I had some space inbetween them. Clicking re-list all seems to only sell one or two at a time. Could be a fluke, could be people don't like buying when they see a full page worth of my cards. Still it's got me up to 195k now.

I can pick up TOTS Lallana or just about get both 85 Alonso and 88 Eriksen.

I don't think you can tell who's listed the cards, can you? Unless you think people will just assume that a load of cards listed quickly with the same BIN price are all from the same person.

[Gray Fox]

I wish I hadn't changed. Dropped 3 games in a row.

Also, 90% of the goals I've conceded have been from long distance with De Gea just falling over.

I've not noticed much of an upgrade with new goalkeepers. You'll get maybe 1 or 2 saves every few games that make you think it's due to having De Gea. Other than that you might aswell keep Butland. But the thing I notice is the big throw/kicking accuracy. He's almost worth it just for that.


I don't think you can tell who's listed the cards, can you? Unless you think people will just assume that a load of cards listed quickly with the same BIN price are all from the same person.

You can't tell, but I always assume it when I see a wall of certain cards back to back with all the same SP/BIN.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyVHCE7IdYw

lol.

[Yevrah]

Afternoon of SBC's in an attempt to pack a Serie A TOTS player. Done European Tour and got to Brazil in the South American one before hitting a loyalty based wall.

[Danny]

Loyalty glitch ftw

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

You can do the gay loyalty trick (start a match against the TOTW, kick off, disconnect from internet and repeat) but it's a right ballache.

[Yevrah]

Doing that 10 times sounds like torture.

There is a mega pack at stake though. :chief:

[Danny]

I saw a video for a guy who posted a 15 minute version. The previous version took about 30 minutes and I can imagine that was torture.

https://youtu.be/zDNc5xwAdn4

If you are on PS4 you can do it by testing your Internet connection

[Yevrah]

Cheers Danny.

Found a Youtube video with a no loyalty method, so all good.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I saw a video for a guy who posted a 15 minute version. The previous version took about 30 minutes and I can imagine that was torture.

https://youtu.be/zDNc5xwAdn4

If you are on PS4 you can do it by testing your Internet connection
I just uncheck and then check the 'Connect to the internet' box. It's much faster.

[Danny]

Really? I'll give that a shot

I think I enjoy SBC more than playing the damn game

[Yevrah]

The Youtube video was a lie.

Apparently it's actually only possible without loyalty if you use a legend. Glitch it is then.

[Gray Fox]

I've not played any this weekend and still not sure I will. It's just too hot to be in and playing 40 games. Still I've jiggled and such and have managed to improve the team overall.

https://gyazo.com/ca2da23023bd0a4b8a39d1c06754c267.png

Essentially all the consumable selling has allowed me to trade De Gea for Butland, TOTS Lallana and 85 Alonso. Expect I'll be winding down over the next few weeks. Especially if it stays like this.

[Yevrah]

15 packs of absolute shit from the SBC's. Did an 84+ TOTW too and pulled 86 Hernandez, which could have been worse.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I did a 84+ tradeable as I still had 2 untradeable IF's.

Got an 87 Insigne so I made some profit.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just unpacked a TOTS Balde Diao from a rare players pack.

When I saw that it was going to be a walkout all I could think was 'Oh shit, Nainggolan'.

I'll take it though.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Okay so I have 3 options for my team.

1. TOTS Alli
2. TOTS Kane at CM
3. TOTS Tolisso

Top 2 would see everyone on 10 chem, the last would see everyone bar Son (on 8) at 10.

[Waffdon]

Option three with ease.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

That is what I was leaning towards when the Tolisso idea first popped into my head.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/8SFpKzs.png

[John]

Why is Smalling there? There are five or six better options.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Limited funds.

I've got like 6k left.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

A 3-2 loss and then a 1-0 win in division 1.

I really like Tolisso a lot, it's just a shame he doesn't have 99 stamina.

I was using him as my runner so I wasn't pulling Kante and N'Zonzi out of position and he was doing a great job. He was launching some great attacks with some sweeping lofted through balls too but I was being sloppy. Schmeichel was all over the place in the first match which was incredibly frustrating.

[Gray Fox]

Do you find Kasper saves everything close to him and 1 v 1's, but struggles with anything from just outside the box?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I made an effort to stop long rangers because of this past WL so he wasn't tested on that end.

Kept getting fucked by low driven shots close to him.

[Yevrah]

I've moved to a La Liga team populated by pack pulls, SBC Suarez and IF Ben Yedder (who I treated myself to). Really enjoying using it.

[Gray Fox]

I only ended up playing 12 games. The heat was just unbearable. Also my PC chair has given up on life, so I have to use the really shitty "emergency chair" that you can't really sit on for longer than 30 mins without it being painful.

Annoyingly I managed to win 11 of those 12 games but that'll put me on Silver 2. That's 15k, a rare gold pack and a mega pack. I'll get nothing in them given my recent luck has been good, but what it does mean is that I need to re-qualify. I wasn't originally going to go for Callejon, but I'll get him if I do qualify.
If I could ever managed to play like that for a full weekend though I might have cracked Elite.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I went 11-10 which is really frustrating as I started on 6-2 but then the long shots started pouring in for my opponents.

Wont bother qualifying this week as I wont be able to play WL and I don't like that Callejon.

[Yevrah]

Had another go at the tradeable TOTW and pulled 84 Kalou, so whacked him back into another one and pulled 85 Dembele. He still sells for £86k, so the best TOTW SBC pull so far and means I just about break even from the endeavour.

[Yevrah]

What's the final SBC?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Leagues: Exactly 11
Squad Rating: Min 72
Team Chemistry: Min 90
# of players in the Squad: 11

[Yevrah]

Cheers Mahow.

Just did it after getting back in. 6/6 and I await the shit reward.

Coins are close to 2.3m now and I've still got shitloads of SBC's I could do. That element of the game makes it so addictive.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I've yet to do it as I've got fuck all useful in my club and it seems that I keep hitting an expensive road block.

Which nationality did you use?

[Yevrah]

I went for Brazilians and I had 8 of the 10 I needed (plus one any old shit player) in my club already.

This SBC seems to have changed the market quite significantly, so I'll be going through the 244 players I have left in the club and checking all of them.

I opened some bronze packs before work this morning and some of the shit that hadn't sold by the time I'd got home at a BIN of 200 relisted and went for over 1k almost immediately. Basically anyone in a league that isn't of their own nationality is potentially worth a lot more.

[Yevrah]

In fact, on that basis it might actually be worth hammering the bronze packs.

I'll give it a crack later.

[Yevrah]

Fuck me, I'm making a fortune here (just from what was in the club, not tried the bronzes yet).

69 Pourie - 3,000
69 Kwarasey - 4,900

Are just a couple of examples of players who would have sold for hundreds previously.

[Yevrah]

74 Baker from Vitesse sold for 8,600.
82 Gignac sold for 7,500.

Given the reward is pretty crap this is absolute madness.

[Gray Fox]

Had a go at the DKT this morning before work. Jesus the gameplay was heavy. Playing first time passes was hard. Every player was taking a touch. As such I lost in my first attempt. It was 1-1 for most of the game, even extra time. But on reflection he was unlucky not to have won. I just didn't adapt and even had the chance at scoring the winning penalty. He saved and then scored, leaving my TOTS Herrera to hit the left hand post and watch the ball go all the way over and hit the right one.

From there my 2nd attempt was tricky, but successful. 3 of my 4 opponents were 5-at-the-back, which in those conditions is horrid. I was staring down the barrel in R2 having gone 2-1 down in the 87th. However I went all out attack and scored straight from kick off. I managed to win the ball straight back from his kick off and let off a 30 yard pop shot with Lallana. It whistled past the post but somehow I was given a corner(I saw no deflection). I aimed it at Lukaku but saw the angle was wrong and opted to flick it on. It landed at the feet of Alonso 5 yards out and he tucked home.
The only other close game was the final. My first non-5-at-the-back opponent. He was a very good defender, but some luck from me saw the ball arrive at Lukakus feet in the box and he never misses the target. It was very close all through the first until I read one of his passes and got to the byline to play a cut back. As I did he took me out with his TOTS Marquinhos for the pen, but also red card for a second booking. I scored the pen but he carried on. When I scored straight from 2nd half kick off though, he was out and I have Callejon.

[Yevrah]

Made well over 100k from selling about 50 players used in that SBC, which takes me to a level where I could consider buying a TOTS beast and still have a half decent side around him.

Oh and Iniesta is indeed rubbish.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.futbin.com/17/squad/4714051

Used this finally.

Only two cost more than 1k (total was about 7.5k or so as I had Veloso as an untradeable).

The RB Ramos has gone from 1.3k to over 5k since I shared the squad.

WHY DID I ONLY BUY ONE, UGH.

[Dan]

Prices are starting to crash again for EA TOTS. A few of the cards I've been looking at have dropped by 20k or more in the last couple of days. The next few weeks are going to be the lowest point of the market, surely?

TOTW is absolutely dogshit, by the way - five golds in total, with the best being 87 David Villa who sells for 30k already :D

[Yevrah]

Is the EA TOTS on Friday? How long will it last?

I'm tempted to sell everyone (bar my PL team) in the run up.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

TOTS Tolisso is fucking brilliant.

Kante - Tolisso - N'Zonzi in the 433(3) is actually perfect for my style.

[Dan]

It's Friday, and I think it's just one week, although apparently they're going to be in FUT Champs rewards for at least two weeks, plus monthly rewards, so everything should nosedive for a while.

[Reg]

Made well over 100k from selling about 50 players used in that SBC, which takes me to a level where I could consider buying a TOTS beast and still have a half decent side around him.

Oh and Iniesta is indeed rubbish.
I hope they manage to balance this sort of thing out for Fifa 18. Players like Iniesta shouldn't be less effective than an 80-rated more physical player.

It's probably immensely complicated and would involve slowing the game down, though, so I doubt it'll change much.

[Gray Fox]

I noticed before silvers going up in price, so I sold my Fosu-Mensah and Schlupp for good profits. Turns out I didn't notice this weekend is 8 gold players only in your squad.

I hate when they do this. Especially at this point in the game. But I guess I'll just buy both players back.

[Danny]

Packed my first IF tonight :drool:

Bradley Wright-Phillips ffs

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Butland and TOTS Keane, Begovic and Athpillykweta or a third option?

Have about 200k to fill in the blanks:

http://i.imgur.com/hLKnFgE.jpg

[Yevrah]

I'd love to build a 4-3-2-1 with Messi, Ronaldo and SBC Suarez but the La Liga CM's seem either to be bobbins or vastly overpriced.

[Gray Fox]

Butland and TOTS Keane, Begovic and Athpillykweta or a third option?

Have about 200k to fill in the blanks:

http://i.imgur.com/hLKnFgE.jpg

Ramos + De Gea?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I hate Ramos with a passion, he will never go near one of my teams.

[John]

I'd love to build a 4-3-2-1 with Messi, Ronaldo and SBC Suarez but the La Liga CM's seem either to be bobbins or vastly overpriced.

IF Kovacic and TOTS Jonathan Viera are both shit hot and cheap. Modric, TIF Casemiro, and TOTS N'Zonzi are all brilliant too and none of them are overpriced.

[John]

Butland and TOTS Keane, Begovic and Athpillykweta or a third option?

Have about 200k to fill in the blanks:

http://i.imgur.com/hLKnFgE.jpg

De Gea and IF Inigo Martinez.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I'll try it.

I tried Begovic out and he's bollocks. He plays like he's sub 6 foot and just falls over when someone goes for a finesse shot.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Fuck it, got annoyed.

Going to work towards this:

https://www.futbin.com/17/squad/4730195

3 bench players are 1 of a few options I'll buy to replace Jakub Blazszszykowski in game.

Edit: Actually, 89 Vidal in for Casemiro (just too much for me) and my untradeable Forsberg can come off the bench to play RW.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just spotted that the new MMs are up after a shit bronze Norweigian keeper that wasn't selling for 150 just went for 2k.

[Waffdon]

I hate Ramos with a passion, he will never go near one of my teams.

IRL or on the game?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Hopefully both.

[Yevrah]

Did MM and got two walkouts. TOTS Srna and De Gea. The latter goes straight into the PL team and I might keep the former for my final team. Either way, a right result after a period of shit packs.

[Yevrah]

IF Kovacic and TOTS Jonathan Viera are both shit hot and cheap. Modric, TIF Casemiro, and TOTS N'Zonzi are all brilliant too and none of them are overpriced.

Fair point, but none of those players appeal to me that much.

Any idea on how to do a hybrid of Messi, Ronaldo and Suarez with another league?

Where's Sama?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

No one that special from my MM but I'll make a profit.

[Yevrah]

With the arrival of De Gea I'm thinking of whacking untradeable 86 Asenjo and SBC Eto'o (who really is a bit useless) into a tradeable 84+ TOTW SBC.

[Yevrah]

Scrap that, Eto'o doesn't count towards the 2 IFs.

[Danny]

Fair point, but none of those players appeal to me that much.

Any idea on how to do a hybrid of Messi, Ronaldo and Suarez with another league?

Where's Sama?

http://i.imgur.com/zvVwR5w.jpg

Almost all of them have an upgrade on that

[Waffdon]

Hopefully both.

I meant do you hate him IRL or on the game but lol if he's not in the team because you dislike him as a person.

[Yevrah]

Cheers Danny, I like.

Just noticed that the Belgium League SBC's cost about 115k to do (apparently), you get a pack for each of the 16 leagues, plus a jumbo rare players pack and 15k coins.

Got to be worth a bash ahead of tomorrow.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I meant do you hate him IRL or on the game but lol if he's not in the team because you dislike him as a person.
I think he's a twat so I refuse to use him.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Cheers Danny, I like.

Just noticed that the Belgium League SBC's cost about 115k to do (apparently), you get a pack for each of the 16 leagues, plus a jumbo rare players pack and 15k coins.

Got to be worth a bash ahead of tomorrow.

Some teams (Zulte) get fixed at times though.

[Yevrah]

I should probably have done that one first...

6 down and Kortijk just done (which should have been the first shitter) reasonably well navigated.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I got fucked by Kortijk and I've been waiting for about 2 months to finish Zulte.

Although Zulte's has halved since I tried last.

[Yevrah]

Zulte done. 8 down, 8 to go.

It's hard to tell exactly as I'm selling players as I do this, but don't think I've deviated too much from the suggested prices in the guides on futbin so far and that has an all in cost of 115k.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Missed the last 4 in total.

Fuck the 5-2-1-2 that they picked for Sport Lokeren.

Just give us normal formations ffs.

[Yevrah]

I need one more Standard Liege player to finish the whole thing and there are none available for under eight grand. Fucksticks.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yeah I struggled with Liege.

I had an untradeable keeper so I ended up putting him at CB (loyalty) and buying an extra RM, applying a RW card on him and sticking him on the left.

By far the cheapest option for me as the only LM is fixed at like 6k, second CB at about 4k and a third CDM at around 3k (CM's are 4k+).

Finished, nothing great in the rewards I had left with Barzagli being my best.

[Yevrah]

Edmilson Junior, the bastard.

Just got him with a bid of 4,500 so all done for somewhere around the 125k mark, gross of rewards.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/Fy28e4W.png

[Yevrah]

Nice.

Will there be a sizeable crash come 6pm tonight?

[Yevrah]

Opened shitloads of packs tonight from the Belgian SBC and about 20 choice others I did last night and this morning.

Pulled two walkouts, disappointing to only be Modric and Courtois, but in better news I have a shitload of 80+ rated players to sell and they're all going for silly amounts due to the new TOTS SBC. TOTS Messi (if his price keeps dropping) and vanilla Ronaldo might actually be possible. It's more luck than judgement but with this and the last TOTS weekly SBC I've nailed the timings of pack openings over the last fortnight. :chief:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Did an 84+ tradeable, got 85 Trapp.

Gay.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Used 2 untradeable TOTS guys for the tradeable SBC and got Driussi, meh.

Could have sworn the game paused for a moment indicating a walkout but I was wrong.

I'll use him and another untradeable TOTS guy for one more later when the market isn't going mental.

[Danny]

I managed to sell a couple of players Bellarbi (dupe) and Falcao for about double what they were looking at yesterday when I listed :joy:

Downside is everything I want seems to be up :moop:

SBC is it.

[Dan]

Looks like TOTS cards dropped about 40-70k earlier - Stindl, Modeste & Werner were going for 60k, 95k & 140k respectively, but they've all risen again at the minute.

I'm hoping they slide again tomorrow, as I didn't have time to actually buy anything when I checked about 7ish. Gonna go & look up some other players & see what's happened.

[Yevrah]

Just noticed that TOTS Stindl with a Shadow card looks like this:

https://www.futbin.com/17/player/18771/Lars%20Stindl

Absolute bargain for 70k.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yep, I used his 86 in midfield for a bit.

He's a seriously great all-rounder.

[Danny]

Scraped together a side to do the TOTS trade and got a centre back from Genk, Colley. FFS.

[Dan]

I have a Stindl on my transfer targets that went for 57K earlier :cab: I will absolutely be buying him tomorrow.

I will probably spend all my coins in the next couple of weeks. Already picked up an Andre Silva for 33k, when he was over 100k yesterday, and never below 60k that I'd seen before that. Add in the Portugal/Argentina side & the rest of my Bundesliga targets & 850k won't last very long. That's without any other bargain players I pick up - Dendoncker, Nicolai Jorgensen & Seri are seriously tempting me too.

[The Merse]

Shit.

Fucking Marquee Matcchups.

I used the squad builder to add Mexicans and Germans. Normally I do that and select the Low-High value setting and remove players I want to keep. This time I accidentally submitted straight away.

Pack pulled Boateng, with over 600 games, and the Manuel Neuer I paid nearly 100k for were both in there.

Distraught doesn't cover it really. Kind of surprised it took this long to happen.

[Gray Fox]

I saw this crash coming so I offloaded my 85 Alonso and TOTS Lallana for 70k and 190k yesterday. At the time of typing Alonso is 65k and Lallana is 145k.

I've picked up TOTS Alonso at 210k too. He's down near 100k from his usual price. I now have 75k left over too. I should probably buy De Gea back and pick up some fitness cards.
The Merse I saw a guy literally do that with Ronaldo the other day. I'd go mad.

[Yevrah]

That's an absolute shitter Merse.

TOTS Messi is now 150k more than he was yesterday. Grr.

[Yevrah]

Stindl picked up for 69k.

Just need to work out how to use him now.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Ofc a 91 Vidal comes out the day after I buy his 89.

I could have bought his 90 :(

[Yevrah]

Looking at this:

https://s22.postimg.org/a8l7vv4rl/Untitled.jpg (https://postimg.org/image/t0x2zg15p/)

The problems:

Stindl on 6 chem, can't really be doing with that so might have to swap Lahm in for Pisczek. Which is a shame as the latter is much better. Any alternatives?
Orban is probably a bit suspect, so I'd welcome any suggestions as to what I could do with the backline while keeping everyone on full chemistry.

That would leave me with enough to play with to get a cracking second team as well, probably Bundesliga based as I already have SBC Lewa in the club and it'd be nice to use him.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

He'll have 8 chem after loyalty and when you put in a manager.

8 is fine.

[Yevrah]

Cheers Mahow.

The other option is to go TOTS Messi, vanilla Ronaldo. But that relies on Messi's price coming down and selling everyone in the club (bye bye IF Lallana :cry: ) and then building up to the rest, which is cool in a way as I love the SBC and trading side of things, but I doubt I'll be getting fresh cards if I do that.

[Yevrah]

Took another option, in comes TOTY Messi for 2.125m. :eek:

[Dan]

Picked up Stindl for 67k & Werner for 137k. Also did a couple of TOTS player SBCs & ended up with Ziyech, which is alright I guess.

Will look to add 87 Keita & TOTS Forsberg as well as picking up Plattenhardt again now he's half what he used to cost. Got the likes of Robben, Thiago & Modeste in mind to fill out the squad too, but with 650k left I might fill out a couple of the other sides I want to build instead.

That new Pepe is perfect for my Argentina/Portugal hybrid, and Goretzka could be a decent value squad player too.

[Gray Fox]

Do the DKT reward players count towards the TOTS requirement?

If so I've a few attempts at the tradeable. I don't use Callejon, Rudy, Sigurdsson or Nacho really. I doubt I will either. Pulisic and Marquinhos both sit on my bench, so I guess I'd keep them.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yes, I've used Siggy.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Got Oribe Peralta's IMOTM from my rare players pack for the offline tournament which is pretty shit.

When I saw the background I was hoping for Goretzka.

Only use is as an 81 in the TOTS SBC.

[Yevrah]

I take it that that pack isn't tradeable?

The Messi and Ronaldo experiment didn't go so well. Turns out I'm not a fan of switching formations in game (I might be mad but the players don't see as effective) and I like the 4-1-2-1-2 formation too much to change to wingers or forwards.

Both on the list and I'll be lucky if I walk away with less than 150k loss on the pair. Largely driven by the tax.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yeah, untradeable.

So I have no other use for that Peralta.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Anyone know the formula for SBC ratings btw?

I want to know if I can pad out the 83 rating with a load of 79s if I have 2 87s.

[Gray Fox]

Anyone know the formula for SBC ratings btw?

I want to know if I can pad out the 83 rating with a load of 79s if I have 2 87s.

https://www.futbin.com/sbc-rating-combinations?rating=83

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Do 87's count as 86 and thus the requirements are the same?

[Lemmo]

Looking to bring in TOTS Salah and TOTS Hamsik or TOTS Cheillini as part of this crash.

Will probably try the SBC with some of the players i picked up in the DKT's too and see if they produce anything.

Not really played much lately, feel FIFA gets a bit stale this time of year in the build up to 18.

[Gray Fox]

Yeah it's definitely getting there. I should be playing WL now, but just dont have the drive to play it.

I'm ill right now too which isn't helping, but I feel I'm about done with it.

[Yevrah]

When does the web app for the next version usually launch?

[Danny]

https://www.futbin.com/sbc-rating-combinations?rating=83

And this explains the jump in prices of anything over 82

[Lemmo]

When does the web app for the next version usually launch?

I think it's usually about a week before the game's released.

[Yevrah]

Ugh. Now I'm fully back into this I can't wait to start from scratch on launch.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Do 87's count as 86 and thus the requirements are the same?

This was the lowest I was able to use:

2 87s
1 83
5 81s
3 80s.

Sadly I only got Ninkovic.

[Danny]

Did the untradeable again after the one above and I got Fazio. Chucked him and the one able at a tradeable and got Telles. Only worth about 40k though

[Yevrah]

Think I'm going to keep Messi as the loss I'll have to bear in selling him will be too much to take. I probably list him overnight just to speculatively see, but I doubt that'll work. Big lessons learnt for FIFA18 with that one.

With that in mind I'm going to focus on the following:

Premier League team (already have it)
La Liga (Messi, Suarez and Ben Yedder are already in the club)
Serie A (not much for this one)
Bundesliga (SBC Lewa for the win)
Brazilian team (have a couple of TOTS Brazilians already that it'd be good to build a team around)

But for now I figured I'd have two stabs at the untradeable TOTS and whack whoever I get into a tradeable one if they're both rubbish.

[Yevrah]

Two walkouts.

Vagner Love and Seri.

Not bad. Vagner Love goes straight into the Brazilian team and Seri will probably be bench fodder for a hybrid team I'll also need to make in addition to the above.

[Yevrah]

Started hammering through the Ligue 1 SBC's I hadn't done. Finished off another 7 of them, to leave 7 absolute shitters.

Opened the packs, nothing remarkable, but made a few coins so whacked in another TOTS untradeable. Another walkout, this time Telles. Which is more good news for the Brazilian team.

[SincereTheRebel]

Just got this. I got Fifa 16 late last year and before that, I didnt own a football computer game on PS4 or PS3. I strictly played pro evo when i played football games heavy.

Fifa 17 is amazing. I see pro evo is still being released. Ill have to pick that up and play that at some stage too.

[Yevrah]

Opened 5 tradeable TOTS players this morning and not a single walkout among them, I even got the same crap Belgian centre back twice.