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

[The Merse]

@Mahow do it. IF Gray with a hawk is ludicrously fun.

[Yevrah]

Once I sell Landon Donovan my mission is to buy Alan Shearer and stick an obscene card on him.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Speaking of obscene.

http://www.futhead.com/17/players/57701/henrikh-mkhitaryan/

The new MOTM Mkhitarayan looks stunning, especially as they've moved him inside.

[The Merse]

Holy shit.

I've been waiting 2 years for a CAM Mikita Ryan.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Had two quick games (one with each team) and I like the changes so far.

Muller wasn't as involved in the match as Renato used to be but he got a couple of chances and put one away whilst Lewandowski also popped one in from far.

Gray I really like. He was largely contained in a match in which I lost 3-2 but he grabbed both with nice finishes. Instantly feels a lot more my style than Benteke.

[Yevrah]

That's Landon Donovan gone, so up to 202k coins with a shitload of stuff still to shit.

Why do I keep getting a 'failed to create squad' error when I try to do so?

[Gray Fox]

Another great time to open packs. We have the FA cup MOTM, the European MOTM and TOTW in packs.

Hoping for something in my rewards tomorrow.

I swapped my blue Varane for his normal card with maybe a thousand or two coins to spare in profit. That leaves me with my team for the weekend done, with coin to spare. I have 206k, with 50k in rewards and the 2 packs having a 29k discard value. Assuming I pull nothing that puts me up to 285k. I'd maybe like a Reus for the bench for the weekend and moving forward but it depends on if I pull anything or not.

[Gray Fox]

So the what I think is, German twitter account has fucked up and posted this before(large image warning):

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5Se0uVWIAAuSlt.jpg:large

This means you can now do the Atletico SBC without Griezmann or Gamerio (using 84 Torres and Carrasco). It also means there are several IF upgrades due. Assenjo, Aspas, Kovacic and Ben Yedder. The likes of Carrasco, N'Zonzi and Casmeiro is more grey. All 3 have an 84 rated card and then an 86 rated card. Their 84's are undoubtedly going up, but it's a case of wondering if their 86's go up too?

I have 86 N'Zonzi and Ben Yedder but I'm now left wondering if it's worth picking up one of the others in advance and also, which version?

I'm sure there's an investment opportunity I'm missing somewhere.

[John]

You could do the Atletico SBC without those players before anyway. I posted the squad I used to do it earlier in the thread. You'll need IF Torres but it's doable without that upgraded Carrasco.

[Lemmo]

I'll keep my 86 IF Carrasco until the upgrades and might flog him before the weekend to maximise his price - I don't have any need for him after this weekend.

The IF upgrades are completely based on their ingame stats so will depend on what specifically they've had upgraded and if that's higher/lower than their IF versions.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

3 in 1 and a half game for Gray (guy quit just before half time after Gray scored), he's grand.

Benteke's got the better stats (with a hunter card) but Gray just works so much better.

[John]

La Liga updates. :drool:

I've had Carrasco, N'Zonzi, Aspas, Ben Yedder, Kovacic, and Asenjo all upgraded. For numbers two and three there it's only their first IF that's been upgraded so all it means is a few more coins when I bin them. I only had Carrasco's first IF too, but the upgrade he's had is so tasty I'm considering selling Neymar instead of him.

Ben Yedder looks like an 89/90 player on an 84 card. Fox, you'll be delighted you binned Griezmann for him when you get a look at that card. :drool:

[Gray Fox]

https://gyazo.com/86d07c9ebb6e53cc1ec3f339b07ba3c5.png

Bloody lovely. Along with Dembele getting upped on Saturday night, my main front 2 will have just had an upgrade for free. Can't complain.

I got MOTM Dzeko, Eriksen, Vardy and Kosielney in my rewards. Those sold for a combined total of just over 40k. Not much else looks sellable so I might end up at about 320k. Given the price hikes for the upcoming requirements there's not a lot I can do with that to improve the team just yet.

[John]

He'll be bonkers quick with that Hunter on him too. Hell of a card.

Kovacic is in the nineties for pace, dribbling, and passing now with an Engine on him, which is just great. He'll probably replace Reyes with that upgrade, who I was sure was going nowhere until I could bring TOTY Kroos in. I'll probably get rid of 85 N'Zonzi, 85 Aspas, 84 Orellana, 86 Iborra, 83 Kameni, and 84 Vazquez now, which should bring in a reasonable amount of coins to add to the 550k already in the pot.

[John]

87 Carrasco is only 35k more than 86, so out goes the latter and in comes the former. Obscene stats, and assuming he plays up to them Neymar will be out the door.

[Yevrah]

Couple of questions if I may.

Can I put any chemistry card on any player? Or do defence minded ones need to stick to defenders etc.
Why is Koulibaly's 'IF' card a funny colour and not black?

[Lemmo]

Couple of questions if I may.

Can I put any chemistry card on any player? Or do defence minded ones need to stick to defenders etc.
Why is Koulibaly's 'IF' card a funny colour and not black?

You can put any chemistry style on any player (minus the goalkeeping ones).

I quite often put defensive ones, mainly shadow and anchor, on my midfielders.

I'm assuming it's the orange Koulibaly? If so that's a MOTM card from the African Cup of Nations I believe.

[Gray Fox]

John He'll just be more awesome. 92 finishing I believe he has before the style is even applied. You'll also be nudging closer to TOTY Modric if you sell all of those for good coin. Would you be tempted to hold out?

Yevrah You can apply any outfield style to any outfield player. But you'll most likely be doing it to fix the one problem stat on a card, or just make him even better than what he's already good at. For example, Martial. He has 91 pace and 87 dribbling. Both of these are very good already. You could decide to apply a style to him that increases one of those further, or you could look at his other stats. His 79 shooting is good, but not great and his 70 passing is weak for a wider player. Most players just whack a hunter card on. More pace and more shooting forever. Whereas a Maestro or Deadeye card are probably better. In the case of Maestro you still have that 91 pace, but you turn his dribbling up to 93, shooting up to 86 and passing to 76. He's now a much better player for his position.

Putting for example a Shadow card on him isn't the best idea though. Yes he gets the pace boost but the boost to his defence is pretty much wasted.

As for the cards, they are colour coded.

Dark blue = TOTY
Light blue = TOTGS
Orange = Cup game MOTM
Orange/Blue = European MOTM
Orange/Dark red = International MOTM
Purple = Award winner card, usually player of the month/year from a league
All black = One to watch card(card will automatically upgrade to the rate of the highest TOTW version of that player)
Black/gold = Standard TOTW card.

[John]

John He'll just be more awesome. 92 finishing I believe he has before the style is even applied. You'll also be nudging closer to TOTY Modric if you sell all of those for good coin. Would you be tempted to hold out?

TOTY Modric is fucking mental, but I'm not sure he's a million coins better than Kovacic for that position. I've swapped in Carrasco for Neymar for the moment and if the former is as good as he should be then Neymar will leave, the proceeds from which would put me over the line for Modric. Or I could get TOTY Kroos instead and sit very close to the line for Messi.

I still have my Ben Yedder and he's somehow noticeably better since the upgrade despite being stupidly good as he was already. He put away a perfect hat trick.

[Gray Fox]

TOTY Modric is fucking mental, but I'm not sure he's a million coins better than Kovacic for that position. I've swapped in Carrasco for Neymar for the moment and if the former is as good as he should be then Neymar will leave, the proceeds from which would put me over the line for Modric. Or I could get TOTY Kroos instead and sit very close to the line for Messi.

I still have my Ben Yedder and he's somehow noticeably better since the upgrade despite being stupidly good as he was already. He put away a perfect hat trick.

As good as that Modric looks, I'd love to get Messi into any team, add to that it's Messi + a TOTY player or 1 TOTY Modric, I'd take the Messi option every time. Even now if my OTW Dembele goes up a little in price when he gets upgraded, then I'd be tempted to do that trade.

[John]

I'm hesitant only because Bale's strength has been so valuable down that side and there's just no way Messi is going to be the same. I quite like the balance I have now, sort of a scalpel and a hammer situation on the wings, but at the same time it's Messi and you don't turn that down.

[Raoul Duke]

I've never found Messi that good in FIFA. Bale/Ronaldo always seem to be better, even if the main difference is basically just their height.

[John]

SIF Carrasco is stupid. Five goals and four assists in six games.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I've never found Messi that good in FIFA. Bale/Ronaldo always seem to be better, even if the main difference is basically just their height.
It's the strength.

[igor_balis]

Having not really touched ultimate team since November, I've just sold my squad for the princely sum of 100 grand. I actually made a profit on a lot of players, which surprised me.

Any top tips for squad ideas? On previous editions I'd have been a hipster twat and built a Turkish league side or something, but with my inability to play Fifa, I'm thinking of going more obvious.

[John]

Having not really touched ultimate team since November, I've just sold my squad for the princely sum of 100 grand. I actually made a profit on a lot of players, which surprised me.

Any top tips for squad ideas? On previous editions I'd have been a hipster twat and built a Turkish league side or something, but with my inability to play Fifa, I'm thinking of going more obvious.

You could combine the notions of hipster twatism and actually good team and make a side from a lesser nation which still has quality. The first nation to come to mind was Croatia, but I'm struggling to think of a right winger so that's probably a non starter.

You could actually make a good side in the Turkish league I reckon. Off the top of my head you'd have Sow, Aboubakar, Quaresma front three, then Sneijder and Ozyakup in midfield. That could be a very potent attack.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

If I only needed about 8 chances to score a goal rather than the 15 I need now, I'd be completely fine.

My aiming is absolutely horrific, it largely seems to go right at the keeper or, if I aim for the far post, just wide. Tried doing the driven shot but I keep putting too little on it.

[Raoul Duke]

If I only needed about 8 chances to score a goal rather than the 15 I need now, I'd be completely fine.

My aiming is absolutely horrific, it largely seems to go right at the keeper or, if I aim for the far post, just wide. Tried doing the driven shot but I keep putting too little on it.

Driven shots don't have a 'too much power' setting, so just give it as much welly as possible.

[Gray Fox]

New MOTM rounds. Looks complete dross except for Aguero and Fekir. A pull of the latter would make an interesting decision for me. My now 90 Cavani is just a bench player really, so being able to put him and Lacazette up top with Fekir as a CAM would be interesting.

835232881106632705

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Stindl looks pretty damn interesting and he's cheap.

Could be an option in midfield.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I just lost to a guy who completely lagged me out. At times there was a good 4 or 5 second delay.

Still only beat me 2-1.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

On a better note, I think Kante's IF might be the perfect midfielder for my style.

I should probably put an anchor or something on him but he's bonkers with a shadow card. He'll chase everyone down, break down so many attacks, get us moving and he just doesn't stop. Probably my favourite player I've played with.

[Gray Fox]

What I said about finding the right way to attack on this seems to have stuck with me. I've played 5, won 5 and scored at least 3 in each game, winning one of them 7-0. I'm only stopping now because my eyes are going and I was starting to lose concentration.

The biggest thing I've changed is implementing the shield/skill dribble. Play a ball to your CAM and watch for their centre back. If he's straight up your backside then hold LT/L2 to shield that ball. If the opponent is unskilled he'll still try to move around you to nick the ball. What this does is you both basically move in a circle and now, you're facing goal, with the CB behind you.
If you have more space hit LT + RT at the same time. Your player will turn on the ball to face goal. Most people will then sprint at you as you've just became dangerous. Pull away from goal with the left stick and keep hold of those triggers and you'll shuffle backwards with the ball. This buys vital time for runners to get in the gap his rushing CB just created and you'll also be facing the right way for the pass. No more of those 180 degree spin passes that go way off target. If you get the ball through you're usually in a good match up and can work a good chance.

I also did more of the Suarez SBC. I've now done 12/20. Got some decent things in the packs, fair few squad fitness, some players that sell for 500-1,000. I also got MOTM Aboubakar in one pack. He looks a damn good super sub, but not usable this week so I sold him. He sold for 29k and that means I've done the 12 so far for free.

The harsh ones are going to be the big 3. If I get nothing in the packs from them it's essentially 350k just for them. It'll probably be wise to leave them until the enforced La Liga/Bundesliga WL is over and the big players should go cheaper.

In the meantime I need a striker I can bring off the bench. Aubameyang and Reus are probably my best bets but I know both will depreciate in value heavily come Monday. Unless there are cheaper options I'm forgetting about. The likes of Bale and Neymar are just outside my reach at the moment.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Aubameyang and Lewandowski look likely for another IF.

Coman too probably and we might even see a TIF Sokratis which would be nuts.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

The new OTW Dembele is obscene.

He's gone from 88 pace to 96.

4 point boost in physical and 3 in dribbling too.

[Gray Fox]

No one has the new MOTM cards' in game stats up yet but I didn't realise Stindl has M/M workrates. Going off his 84 IF card he looks a great CM, never mind the 86.

And good god.

https://gyazo.com/3e8a1ce5756ec9d87dc3fc3ceb218b45.png

I bought him for 160k when those SBCs were out. Best investment ever?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Boateng has been given a downgrade.

Cheers once again for telling me to shift him pronto, Gray.

[John]

Pissing hell. What's that Dembele going for now?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

300k, which is only a 15k boost.

Too many under-cutters or people who don't realise he was updated.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Kimmich got a +12 shooting boost.

[Gray Fox]

I've just picked a Kimmich up for 30k. Looks solid now.

Might get rid of 86 N'Zonzi and bring him straight in from the bench.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://i.imgur.com/hyds823.png

I'm bringing him. Out goes MOTM Maestro Thiago.

[Gray Fox]

They've given Dembele 91 stamina too. If he gets one more IF that'll be like a TOTS card. :D

[John]

I'm surprised more Leipzig players haven't had big upgrades. From what I can see there's Forsberg, Keita, and Orban with plus three and Werner with plus two. Surely their ratings can't have been bob on for the rest of a promoted side who're now sitting second.

I've just had a look at Dembele's IG stats and he's basically a TOTS card now. High eighties to low nineties in everything important and lightning fast. He'll be a handful this weekend no doubt. Stick a Deadeye on him and he's close to 99 in everything you want bar crossing, which is absolutely sufficient at 84. Bonkers card.

I've started 6-1 in the weekend league, but I seriously doubt I'll be able to play the full complement of games this weekend so hopefully I can hit the eighteen win mark fairly quickly.

[Lemmo]

Can confirm that OTW Dembele is an absolute nightmare to play against.

Currently 20-4 in the weekend league, hopefully not bottle it and get Elite. I've hit Elite for the month now so it's just about the weekly rewards really.

Played against 56th in the world in January earlier on and almost beat him, lost on pens. He had about 4 TOTY cards so was almost a decent scalp.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

On just under 240k now having replaced Thiago with Stindl and selling Lewandowski.

Going to buy his IF on Wednesday when it goes down after his TIF is released. I need a budget striker to fill the gap for now, any good options? I'm thinking IF Modeste.

[The Merse]

I've just had a look at Dembele's IG stats and he's basically a TOTS card now. High eighties to low nineties in everything important and lightning fast. He'll be a handful this weekend no doubt. Stick a Deadeye on him and he's close to 99 in everything you want bar crossing, which is absolutely sufficient at 84. Bonkers card.


His pace and passing boosts means I've moved him to a Hawk card from Catalyst. Played two seasons game with him with terrible lag and he still stood out. Hell of an upgrade, pretty damn fantastic now, even on 8 chem.

I think I'll be back on Weekend League next weekend, provided I can use Monday off work to qualify. Looking forward to it.

[The Merse]

On just under 240k now having replaced Thiago with Stindl and selling Lewandowski.

Going to buy his IF on Wednesday when it goes down after his TIF is released. I need a budget striker to fill the gap for now, any good options? I'm thinking IF Modeste.

IF Werner.

[Gray Fox]

I'm now 20 games in and sit at 15-5. I've had 2 deserved losses. 1 on pens where my keeper got a hand to his 5th penalty but still it hit the roof of the net. And 2 heartbreakers. The first, I was leading 3-0 at half-time. He went all out attack and changed formation in the 2nd and I just couldn't get the ball out. At 3-2 I had a chance fall my way but it hit the inside of the post and was cleared straight into a counter which he scored from. I should have settled down for ET but I instead tried to score again and got picked off. The last loss was against a better player, but at 1-0 up he started pissing about. I got a chance and made it 1-1 in added time, but he still had time to come right back and score again.

OTW Dembele is absolutely obscene. Took a few games to fully get used to his upgraded stats, but boy is he good. So good infact he has me rethinking the Bale + Neymar plan and I'm only playing him on 8 chem. (https://www.easports.com/uk/fifa/ultimate-team/web-app/show-off?showoffId=iAyRtW1hooS:FFA17XBO) As for the team I absolutely despise the Madrid defenders I have there. Though Modric I like. Kimmich is good, but his inclusion means I miss out on a proper defensive player. He'd be good at it himself but he just can't muscle anyone off the ball.
I'm not sure I like the feel of Reus. He's neither strong nor fast enough, however drop him any chance and he buries it. I still have 315k left and the next 2 weekends are no requirements so I have free reign. Dembele has left me not knowing what to do with it now though.

As for my remaining games, the plan is to get to 21 wins and stop. That's Elite monthly for me. If there's still sight of Elite weekly I'll carry on, but Gold 2 would probably be the best rewards for me this week. I also know how prone to a bottle job I am.

[Yevrah]

Finally sold all the shit and amassed 500k of coins doing so. It's quite incredible how much poon you can get for dross in a SBC league.

Pulled together an Italian side based on the advice in this thread (basic unless stated).

First team

GK: Hart (Wall)
RB: Florenzi
CB: Koulibaly (Anchor)
CB: De Maio
LB: Alex Sandro
CM: Medel
CM Donsah (catalyst)
CM: Asamoah
RW: Cuadrado (Maestro)
SC: Bacca (Hawk)
LW: Mertens (Engine)

Subs

GK: Mirante
RB: Basta
LB: Vangioni
CB: Manolas
CM: Leminia (Engine)
RW: Felipe Anderson (Maestro)
ST: Niang
CB: Murillo
CM: Kucko
CM: Khedira
ST: Muriel
LM: Laxalt

Mertens and Cuadrado with their cards are monsters and am developing a soft spot for Donsah.

I'm going to preserve the 500k for now, so am working with 7,302 coins over that and am up to division 8 of single player seasons. Think I'll bed the team in a bit more on single player before getting powned online again.

What's the rationale behind pack rewards being untradeable? I get it with start up players and the like, but why when I win division 9 can I not trade any of the fucking rewards?

[Gray Fox]

Yevrah the easier rewards to get are often untradeable. They can still be used in future SBCs though so worth keeping. EA value online as above all else. So it'll be better worth you working your way up in the online seasons mode. You should also give FUT Champions a crack at qualifying for. Rewards there make the rest of the game essentially pointless. For example, winning Div 1 gets you 15k coins. Winning 18 games in FUT Champs gets you 30k and 3 valuable packs.

I think I'm done for the weekend. The gameplay has been horrible today. Lots of wins and losses due to sheer luck and BS. I scraped my way to 21-7. 21 being my goal for the weekend. I think I've switched off though as I've lost 4 of the next 5 games and sit at 22-11. I've 7 games left and would need all 7 to take Elite for the week. I'd loathe to win 6 and then lose the last one but it would be very me. As such I'm 50/50 on whether I will play them or not.

Still I've hit Elite for the month, which in a 4 week month is harder and for me is an achievement. Hopefully the red rewards are good to me. I also can't wait to bin off Varane and Carvahal.

[Lemmo]

Hit Elite 3 this weekend and Elite 1 for the month.

Hopefully I can pack someone half usable.

IF Carrasco and IF Ben Yedder are confirmed monsters, I've probably lost value keeping them but they were well worth the fun this weekend.

[Gray Fox]

Hit Elite 3 this weekend and Elite 1 for the month.

Hopefully I can pack someone half usable.

IF Carrasco and IF Ben Yedder are confirmed monsters, I've probably lost value keeping them but they were well worth the fun this weekend.

I didn't face this guy much, but whenever I did he destroyed Carvahal. Also strangely I only faced Ronaldo 3 times, winning all 3. One of which was a mental game that finished 6-5 to me. My game hadn't even loaded back to the menu yet and I had the guy message me telling me I didn't deserve to win and was just lucky. I had 3-4 guys like that this week.

Still you've done well there. These are the monthly rewards (http://www.futhead.com/champions/rewards/?page=1) you're looking at. For reference, the last time I hit Elite in December(5 week month) I recieved an 87, 86, 85, 4 x 84, 2 x 83 and 3 x 81. Although chances in 4 week months are better due to there being between 11 and 18 less gold TOTW cards to pick from. I've also seen people shit on and get a full 12 pack of 81-83 rated cards. But in the main you'll be unlucky not to pull someone from that first page.

Personally I'm being a little picky with what I would like. The ones I don't want are 89 Mertens, 87 Insigne, 86 Sneijder or 86 Falcao. I have untradeable versions of all of those players, with 3 being from my last monthly rewards. I'd like to dream of one of the top 2 lines there but I'm more realistic and would be happy with almost anything from that first page. The cards I'm more looking for are 84 Martial, 84 Jovetic, 83 Tolisso, 82 Brooks, 82 Gabriel Jesus and 81 Muriel. There's a fair chance of one or more of them in your pack and all are great cards in their specific leagues.
I've held off on the Suarez SBC on the 0.00001% chance I pull him as if I did, I'd go spare at all of those wasted coins.

In reality we need to temper expectations. There's a whole load of dross after that first page. There's not much at all usable from the 81-84 range but for the players I listed above. I'm just hoping for 1 good player, like last time.

[John]

I've made my eighteen wins for the week but I've had to leave twelve games on the table. Haven't been able to play much at all this weekend so I'm fine with making the eighteen, but it's a bit disappointing to have to leave so many games unplayed when I'd be in with a very good chance of top gold at least, and elite if I went on a particularly good run.

I've rinsed so many people with SIF Carrasco this weekend. He's absolutely wonderful at skipping past a man and curling one in the far top corner.

[Gray Fox]

I didn't add to my games either. Left 7 on the table mainly due to wanting the Gold 2 rewards over Gold 1 this week, but just incase I won 6 of 7.

I've also sold Modric, Kimmich and Reus. I could see the good points in the former, but he needs a defensive unit next to him. Kimmich was shown up against the stronger forwards(I was using him as my defensive minded midfielder). Reus I was ready to be the missing link the team needed up front and his finishing is great, but he suffers from what the other 2 forwards do in that his strength lets him down. Dembele and Ben Yedder are good enough with the ball to sometimes wiggle out of those situations, Reus isn't really.

I probably lost about 20k through paying a premium for these players, but the coin total is back up to 440k. I'm also tempted to shift on Boateng and Alaba. I could get myself another 60-70k in the pocket by swapping out to Ramos and Alba and I probably wouldn't notice much difference. I'll hold for this weekend for now as my 90 Boateng should only creep up in price now he's out of packs. In fact if this weekend has tought me anything it's that unless you're using Smalling, your choice of defender doesn't matter too much.
I'll have around 500k to spend as it stands. Dembele being so good makes me unsure where to take the team though.

[Yevrah]

If (any of) you had 500k of coins and a blank canvass, what team would you build?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

With that coinage on Xbone I'd build a team around legends Scholes or Ruud :nodd:

[Yevrah]

Was hoping for one that would get me someway to being more competitive online than one built around a quality player and then padded out with 1k cards...

[The Merse]

Still got an unused first owner Smalling in reserve. May crack it out soon.

Played D2 on Friday for the first time in ages and got relegated. Promoted back from D3 with straight victories, and now 3-1 in D2 so hoping to secure some weekend league action for next weekend via Seasons rather than Daily Knockout.

[The Merse]

If (any of) you had 500k of coins and a blank canvass, what team would you build?

http://www.futhead.com/17/squads/4870355/

Should be do-able for that money.

[Yevrah]

Cheers Merse.

Won my first game online tonight. :jayjay:

Entered the weekend league qualifying cup thing and was faced against a bronze bloke who I can only assume had wandered in by accident. He them promptly twatted it out of play before quitting. Had another go and played possibly the worst FIFA player ever. He had a comparable team to me but all he wanted to do was run with the ball, I twatted him 4-0 in the first half before he rage quit. Onto the next round and I'm up against a decent player, he batters me to take the lead and having levelled at 1-1 (with a brilliant, if I do say so myself, breakaway goal) I then hit the post twice, before he sealed the win 5 minutes from time.

Still, I have my first goals and scalp in this version, now to spend some coins.

Observations so far on the team are that I prefer Felipe Luis and Niang to Cuadrado and Bacca respectively. Is that odd?

[Yevrah]

Tried again and reached the semi's this time. Very even game, but lost 2-1.

This is more addictive and involving than crack - I can see why you're all pissing away your weekends on it.

[Yevrah]

If I upgrade the team and spend the 500k I think I might be able to make it.

This is the current team.

EDIT: Ignore that link.

Want to keep it Serie A, so any suggestions? Not really a fan of any of the strikers I've used so far (from the three in the squad), might be my play-style but I get far more joy from the wings, which I think leaves two choices. Balls deep on a supercard or lump a big man up there.

[Yevrah]

This is the link.

https://www.easports.com/fifa/ultimate-team/web-app/show-off?showoffId=fqPmoNViorb:FFA17XBO

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Tried again and reached the semi's this time. Very even game, but lost 2-1.

This is more addictive and involving than crack - I can see why you're all pissing away your weekends on it.
I'm not, I still haven't managed to qualify :(

[John]

Who's the Felipe Luis you're on about there? That side Merse has put together wouldn't be for me, but then I balk at anything where every player doesn't have full chemistry never mind something that falls short on overall team chemistry.

I'm on Playstation so my mental approximations of the prices might be a bit off for you, but I reckon the following would be very achievable.

GK - Handanovic
DR - Bruno Peres
DL - Alex Sandro
DC - MOTM Koulibaly
DC - MOVEMBER Barzagli
DMC - IF Milan Badelj
MC - SIF Marcelo Brozovic
MC - Banega
RW - OTW Deulofeu or IF Salah
LW - UP Mertens
ST - UP Higuain

Stick on whichever cards you deem necessary, but I'd recommend an Anchor for Badelj.

[Yevrah]

Is it fair to say that Higuain is unlikely to get another IF and therefore his OTW card is pointless and I should just go for the cheaper last IF version instead?

[John]

Unless he's picked up an amputated leg that I'm not aware of then it's incredibly likely that he will get another IF. That said, his OTW and 8IF or whatever he's on now would eat up about nine tenths of your budget so I'm not sure that's the way to go for now. Getting his UP card and putting a Hunter or Hawk card on him would be my recommendation for now.

What's your preferred formation? I play a 4-3-3 with a defensive midfielder so I tend to think in that formation if I'm planning out a squad, but I'll be home in about fifteen minutes and could have a fiddle on the squad builder if you have another style in mind.

[Yevrah]

Cheers John.

4-3-3, but with a flat midfield of 3 CM's has been quite good to me today.

[Yevrah]

Bought OTW Higuain (Hunter). :eyemouth:

380k coins.

143k coins left.

[John]

https://www.futbin.com/17/squad/2083019

That seems to come in about seventy thousand under your budget, leaving you a bit to play with should you require subs or any of the players aren't to your liking. I've stuck with Badelj there only moved forward because even though he comes as a CDM as standard, he has 88 for both long and short passing stats and would double up very nicely as both a creative and defensive midfielder.

Witness;

https://i.gyazo.com/d163d60e4978546c061396e71d06ab1e.png

For 12k you can't really go wrong there.

EDIT - :D Well that's that team suggestion up the shitpipe.

[Yevrah]

Sorry John, couldn't resist. :D

Love the look of Badelj though, he's the next target. Is that him with an anchor card?

[John]

That's with an Anchor card applied, yes

[Yevrah]

Picked him up for £12k, with a Catalyst card though, so I'll need to sort that.

[John]

Based on the current side you've posted I'd be slotting Badelj into Khedira's spot, but you should try out all variations on that midfield to see what suits. Anchor cards come fairly cheap, but you've more than likely had one out of whatever packs you've opened already so have a look in your club before you go spending.

If you're fine with the rest of the side and willing to spend the coin you have left on one player I'd recommend SIF Brozovic. You'd be a bit Croatia heavy, but I'm not sure there's much arguing to be done with an Engine card on that player for 100k.

https://i.gyazo.com/d86a2c1586a3cb3aeeaa3d4bccc5ed4b.png

[John]

While on that site anyway I've been having a look at what I could spend my now 1.2m coins on. I was toying with the idea of Ronaldo but I just don't see any way he's well over a million coins better than SIF Carrasco or Neymar, so I've looked at the weakest area of my team in terms of numbers and been confronted with a fucking atrocity of a player.

https://i.gyazo.com/397bd36c72eadcdb5c12ed9d13b1c192.png

That's TOTY Sergio Ramos with a Catalyst card on him, and even at one million coins and with suspect work rates (high attacking medium defensive) I'm not sure I can finish this version of FIFA without giving him a go. That's just fully bonkers.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Was hoping for one that would get me someway to being more competitive online than one built around a quality player and then padded out with 1k cards...


Bought OTW Higuain (Hunter). :eyemouth:

380k coins.

143k coins left.

Shambles.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Was hoping for one that would get me someway to being more competitive online than one built around a quality player and then padded out with 1k cards...


While on that site anyway I've been having a look at what I could spend my now 1.2m coins on. I was toying with the idea of Ronaldo but I just don't see any way he's well over a million coins better than SIF Carrasco or Neymar, so I've looked at the weakest area of my team in terms of numbers and been confronted with a fucking atrocity of a player.

https://i.gyazo.com/397bd36c72eadcdb5c12ed9d13b1c192.png

That's TOTY Sergio Ramos with a Catalyst card on him, and even at one million coins and with suspect work rates (high attacking medium defensive) I'm not sure I can finish this version of FIFA without giving him a go. That's just fully bonkers.

His worst in game rating is 85 at ST, fucking hell.

[John]

Those two posts don't contradict eachother, particularly not in Serie A.

Shambles.

[Gray Fox]

Yevrah

If you have wingers, I recommend this man highly.

https://www.futbin.com/17/player/15322/salah

EDIT: If you're set on a Serie A team there are a few I would call must haves, in it. Naingolan in any form is the best CM in the league. Salah deserves to be given a shot, though I've used his 86 card and it was amazing. Mertens, if you can upgrade to his blue card is fantastic. If you want an attacking CM, get 85 Brozovic. Best til last time now is Dybala.

You'll figure as you play that certain players are always where you need them, others just aren't. This is 50/50 in their positioning and in their workrates. In essense you want your star pacey striker getting in behind, to have High attacking workrate and either Medium or Low defensive. Likewise having High/Medium on your defensive midfielder isn't the greatest. It's because of this Dybala is an acquired taste. He is Med/Med which makes for a great CAM or CM but it does affect him a little at striker.
For me though it's in a positive way as the ball at his feet is where you want it and he often offers short. His left foot is also a dream.

[Yevrah]

Cheers guys. Brozovic, Naingolan and Salah are on the shopping list, but I settled on this last night, with 11k coins left.

https://www.easports.com/fifa/ultimate-team/web-app/show-off?showoffId=kGZuIb8eorv:FFA17XBO

Still can't get past the semi's though. :moop: 5 tries left before it goes all MLS.

[John]

Having given it some more thought the TOTY Ramos idea is out for now. Iniesta is great but not half a million great, being outshone by 28k IF Kovacic showed that up in glorious technicolor, so I've decided on a bit more of a reshuffle than I'd planned. Out go Iniesta, Bale, Neymar (who was a sub at this point anyway), and possibly Varane, to leave me looking like this.

https://i.gyazo.com/ef821faf25f9668678c1f9157ef79590.jpg

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.futbin.com/17/player/17876/Ibrahimovic

Not too shabby.

[John]

You must be furious about what's happened with Andre Silva, Mahow, assuming you still have him.

The rest of the world upgrades are out and the biggest surprise is that despite having both an IF and an SBC card, Jonas has received a downgrade.

The most interesting upgrade, to me at least, is Hakim Ziyech, who's been bumped up one but with a nifty three point dribbling boost. I've been thinking about making a little Dutch league fitness side to piss around with for a while, and the updates to both him and Nicolai Jorgensen's IF cards leave them looking like so.

https://i.gyazo.com/293dd9749c081547c566e19f987d99c6.png https://i.gyazo.com/476351e4fbf463577923173b54abfed5.png

I could definitely build a side around that. Jorgensen looks a little too much like Craig Bellamy for my liking, but I can look past that if he's as good as his stats suggest.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Sold him a few patches ago when they destroyed crossing.

I was so sad as I loved that squad.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C5wnUwDWcAAcPf_.jpg:large

Little annoyed if that's all true as I was hoping for more Munich players.

Nainggolan is getting close to the all 90's club if they go for that.

[Gray Fox]

Of that list, assuming it's all right, Alex Sandro, Depay, Gueye and Lewandowski look special. Nainggolan looks just obscene. I can see EA trolling him with 89 for pace in his TOTS card. He probably needs one more IF in order to be in the 90's club.

If I could get ahold of that Sandro I'd bring back the Serie A left side of my defence.

In all honesty I have the Boateng, Alaba and Sanches trio for 2 players and that is TOTGS Fahrmann in goal(he's bloody good) and Sanches. Defensively I don't like Boateng so far. He seems to randomly push into the gap where a CDM would be, that could be me, but I don't think it is.
In essense the problem is I could sell the 3 valuable cards in Alaba, Boateng and Fahrmann and buy Chiellini, Sandro, Dybala(used as a CM to complete the perfect link triangle) and De Gea and still be 40k better off. I don't think my back line would be any worse and I've gained a quality attacking card from it. This seems like the right thing to do. I'm not going mad am I?
This also wouldn't affect my plans for the La Liga forwards to still fit in, however John binning off Neymar completely in favour of that 87 Carrasco is throwing me. I don't see a way to get him in the team and keep it at full chemistry. So the current plan is still to work towards Neymar.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I fucking love OTW Dembele, he's just so damn good.

[John]

87 Carrasco is better at everything bar dribbling, and an Engine card sorts that out handily. Neymar is shit hot, don't get me wrong, but for half the price and superior stats I'm going with Carrasco. If you need Neymar to make your side work then go ahead, because he's absolutely worth the coins. Carrasco is just an obscene bargain.

[Gray Fox]

I'm hoping for Carrasco as my monthly prize next week. My other problem is this would all relegate Dembele to the bench. It'll be tough to do, but can you really get a better impact sub than that?

I also forgot to ask John, did you manage to place in Gold for the month?

[John]

I'm hoping for Carrasco as my monthly prize next week. My other problem is this would all relegate Dembele to the bench. It'll be tough to do, but can you really get a better impact sub than that?

I also forgot to ask John, did you manage to place in Gold for the month?

I only played two weeks this month, last week where I went twenty-twenty using an unfamiliar side that I was tweaking the whole time, and this week where I made my eighteen wins but had to leave twelve games on the table due to sleep requirements. I think it works out somewhere in the middle Silver for monthly, which I'm fine with for a first attempt. If I'm right in saying the next two leagues are without restrictions I'll be confident of hitting about twenty five wins at least in each of those, then we'll see how it goes for the rest of the month. Gold monthly is the target from now on, but I very much doubt I'll have got there this month.

A front three of Carrasco-Ben Yedder-Demebele seems like the sort of bonkers dream team it'd be worth sacrificing to achieve. What's the situation that necessitates Neymar over Carrasco to get the whole thing working?

[Gray Fox]

I only played two weeks this month, last week where I went twenty-twenty using an unfamiliar side that I was tweaking the whole time, and this week where I made my eighteen wins but had to leave twelve games on the table due to sleep requirements. I think it works out somewhere in the middle Silver for monthly, which I'm fine with for a first attempt. If I'm right in saying the next two leagues are without restrictions I'll be confident of hitting about twenty five wins at least in each of those, then we'll see how it goes for the rest of the month. Gold monthly is the target from now on, but I very much doubt I'll have got there this month.

A front three of Carrasco-Ben Yedder-Demebele seems like the sort of bonkers dream team it'd be worth sacrificing to achieve. What's the situation that necessitates Neymar over Carrasco to get the whole thing working?

I dislike La Liga goalkeepers so I fugded it to get TOTGS Fahrman in, though I'd happily give him up to give De Gea a shot.

https://gyazo.com/578d1fd0ec493d0f6b63504f9a2bf8f7.png

I actually meant for the standard Walker to be in the shot but that's the team I'm looking at. The problem with Carrasco is that Casemerio would move down to 7 chemistry should I swap out either of his great links.

[John]

Have a look at the newly upgraded IF Asenjo. He's slightly lesser than Fahrmann in a couple of areas but he's comfortably the best La Liga goalkeeper now and his kicking is good enough to start counters into the bargain. Looking at that team shot he only actually has one stat lower than De Gea, and it's his kicking at 83. Everything else is equal or better.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

836954205638299650

I've got 169k and IF Werner for an upgrade in the Bundesliga.

Would love it if Lewandowski's first IF gets into that range.

[John]

As mad as Nainngolan looks, that Naby Keita is the most interesting player there. He should be a must have for any Bundesliga side.

[Lemmo]

I'd happily take that Gueye in my IF pack tomorrow night.

That Depay also looks obscenely good, I'd seriously consider a Ligue 1 Hybrid with him and Lacazette if I packed him. I used the normal Depay at the start of Fifa and he was a very good player.

Van Aanholt also looks a tidy BPL LB, there's a serious shortage of them. I'd need to check his workrates though as there's a possibility he could actually be High Attacking Low Defensive.

[igor_balis]

https://scontent-lht6-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t34.0-12/17092095_10158272871230384_1463730986_n.png?oh=763 afec68e8cc56b61ae3b518ef169c9&oe=58B9CF66

Currently going with this, having sold my shitey La Liga side. It is pretty good. Originally had Hamsik AMC rather than Medel DMC, but I'm too gash to play that many attacking midfielders, and I needed the money to upgrade on the pants Eder.

[Gray Fox]

Have a look at the newly upgraded IF Asenjo. He's slightly lesser than Fahrmann in a couple of areas but he's comfortably the best La Liga goalkeeper now and his kicking is good enough to start counters into the bargain. Looking at that team shot he only actually has one stat lower than De Gea, and it's his kicking at 83. Everything else is equal or better.

He's just done his ACL again the unlucky guy so that Asenjo is probably the last upgrade he's getting this season, unless his form sees him get in TOTS from this far out. He looks quality but limits me to using a Spanish, La Lige CB, which I believe is just Ramos and IF Martinez(I'm not a fan of Pique usually).

I'd quite happily pack and use any member of that TOTW starting 11 or Keita in my team. Those top end cards all look ridiculous.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Made some tweaks in my Bundesliga side:

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

Out go Scream Costa, IF Werner and MOTM Stindl for Reus, IF Lewandowski and TIF Keita.

93 Pace, 89 Dribbling, 81 Shooting, 86 Defending, 87 Passing and 89 Physical with an anchor card. I cannot wait to use that Keita tonight.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xjZxbrKJ4o

Yeah, Keita is brilliant and it's nuts how cheap he is.

[Gray Fox]

It's just showing up the league bias with how cheap he is.

Compare his card to that of Gueye. Gueye has 83 defending to Keitas 78, but Keita is better at everything else. Yet Keita is 70k and Gueye is 150k. Mental.

[Gray Fox]

I've just seen a helpful picture on Reddit. It lists the SBCs around that you can essentially do for free, or to very little cost. You'll need to zoom in to see estimated prices. But the idea the OP is presenting is getting a chance at a big pull for free. Obviously prices fluctuate but the picture suggests you can get about 500k worth of packs for the cost of about 110k.

The least common prize listed I can see is a Prime Gold Players Pack(45k each), while most are Jumbo Premium Gold Packs(15k each) or Premium Gold Players Pack(25k each), with there being 4 rare gold packs(25k each).

https://i.redd.it/jkg75hvp23jy.png

[igor_balis]

Having great fun with my Serie A side. I'm only in the shitty divisions atm, but Higuain has 24 in 14 starts :D.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I'm going to have to plough through those SBC's.

I've only done the intro one, Alli, Toprak and Muller.

Just completed all the Hybrid Nations and the first of the Hybrid Leagues for just under 15k. Best so far is Petr Cech which will cover most of it. I'd imagine if I sold all of the stuff I got I'd at the very least double my money.

Wish I would have gotten into the SBCs when I first got the game.

[Gray Fox]

They aren't all worth doing, but if you can d them for essentially free, it's worth it just in case you hit big.

[Gray Fox]

I've just done 3 more off the Suarez SBC as they looked cheap enough at face value to break even with the packs. Only problem was when I got to Granada, some fuckers had price fixed the last 3/4 Bronzes/Silvers in the time it had taken me to do the other 2 teams. I ended up having to spend about 10k more than I wanted to, but got the 3 done for 42k. I got sod all from the first 2 packs, save for a few non-rare golds that went for 1k. The last one produced Lacazette, who insta-sold for 26k making most of my coins back. If everything else sells as listed I'll end up having spent about 3k to have done the three teams, so not too shabby.
That leaves me having done 15/20 whilst having a net spend of 15k coins or so. I've still the big 3, Osasuna and Gijon to do. I've left those 5 as they all will in no way even come close to breaking even with their packs. As I said before, there's no point me finishing it until Thursday night. I'd be pissed if I threw the remaining 400k or so at it only to get Suarez as a red reward. Although I suppose it could give me a way to play Suarez in more than one team concurrently.

As for this weekend league, I've been chucking up since Wednesday and only just now feel any kind of human. I'm in no mood to play tonight and this is my bad weekend for playing. If I can make the 18 wins needed to qualify I'll be happy. I don't think I'll have the time for more.

I've been more looking at my team instead. I've 650k to spend and I'm getting very close to bringing in those 3 players I need to finish it off. I'd say one or two more weekend would pay for it all. However I could also do it by selling OTW Dembele and I could do that now. I'm just not sure if that's the wisest thing to do.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Got up to Division 3 for the first time last night \0/.

Still haven't been able to qualify for the weekend league though.

[Gray Fox]

Got up to Division 3 for the first time last night \0/.

Still haven't been able to qualify for the weekend league though.

There's another Thiago you need to upgrade to. 88 now. Maybe they'll finally put his stamina over 80.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

There's another Thiago you need to upgrade to. 88 now. Maybe they'll finally put his stamina over 80.

I'm running SBC Muller, Vidal and TIF Keita as my three now. They work well together so there's no room for Thiago sadly.

[Gray Fox]

OTW news and Dembele has scored for Dortmund a few minutes in. His price is up to 260k(340k on PS4) already.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Mon the second goal.

Another IF would make Dembele stupid good.

[Yevrah]

Made over 30k coins on J-League trading this morning.

[Gray Fox]

Mon the second goal.

Another IF would make Dembele stupid good.

2-0 at HT. 1 goal for Dembele and 1 for Aubameyang. It should be 3-0 as Dembele cut one across for Aubameyang to tap in but he somehow missed the ball. Hype is settling again now and his price is falling. He'd probably need a second goal for an TOTW card. An assist probably wouldn't cut it.

Yevrah How did you do this?

I'm too lazy to get into trading usually, but if you can make 30k a day I'm very much interested.

[Yevrah]

I'll go into detail later, but it's basically down to exploiting the fact that there's an SBC in that league and people are too lazy to wait for players and will pay hugely over the odds for BINs.

[Yevrah]

With the amount od coins in the market now I reckon I could hit 100k over a weekend day pretty easily if I actually know what I was doing.

[Gray Fox]

The Dortmund game was mad. Dembele went off after creating the 3rd goal, score at 3-1 with him having a goal and assist. However it finished 6-2 to Dortmund. So unless he's given MOTM(he was before he went off) then he wont be getting anything.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Arnaurtovic and Gray could be on for ones though.

[Yevrah]

50k on the J League for the day. If only I'd got into this at launch....

[Gray Fox]

Are you just winning a player at auction and then repeatedly selling him at a higher BIN?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Are you just winning a player at auction and then repeatedly selling him at a higher BIN?

Probably.

I've found that to be the case doing some SBCs. I'm just going for the cheaper BIN but noticed you get the better deals playing the auctions.

[Yevrah]

Are you just winning a player at auction and then repeatedly selling him at a higher BIN?

Yep. The gains you can make are monstrous. It's taking me a while as doing it in the J League involves lower priced players, but I can't see how it isn't scalable in say Serie A with whatever its latest SBC is.

[Gray Fox]

Still no games played this weekend. Thought I'd be okay but started to feel a bit shitty again on the Saturday. I do have time to fit games in today but doing a quick bit of maths, I don't think it's enough. If you take into account how good/bad I am, I'll need about 30 games to hit the 18-20 win mark. If each game runs its course it can be about 3 an hour. Obviously on a Sunday people are more prone to the rage quit, though players are usually better. But if I expect the 3 an hour it's going to take 10 hours.

If I'm honest I'm already resigned to requalifying. However I'm looking more at the monthly rewards. March is a 5 WL month, so you need 73 wins for Gold and 112 for Elite. Even the most basic player should be able to hit Gold as that's an average of less than 15 wins a week. Elite is easier too. An average of between 22 and 23 wins a week. Obviously I wont hit that mark this week. But If I can knock 13 wins out, then that takes me to needing 99 wins from 4 weeks, which is exactly what I did last month.
The biggest problem with grinds like these are the games you take all the way and then lose.

I'll be doing housework and hopefully starting soon.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Has the formula for squad rating been changed? I've run into a few SBC squads on Futbin which fall short on rating in game despite saying it's fine.

https://www.futbin.com/17/squad/2164307

This is only 79 :(

Luckily I had an untradeable Bojan and it worked putting him in for Obiang. Still really annoying.

[Yevrah]

Is one of the players an upgraded version and you've bought the original?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Might have been Kimmich, I didn't even check.

Although I know a few times I have made sure to check and everything was in order.

[Gray Fox]

I've had that happen once. Copied the squad exactly too. Like you I had someone at hand who I could plug in to fix it, but it's annoying.

[Yevrah]

The J- League's slowed down today a bit as people have cottoned on, so I've been focusing on SBC instead. Chipped away at a few of the basic ones and still have 60k of coins to play with. Should probably build a team soon.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Got an IF Gnabry in a pack for an SBC reward which I was pretty chuffed with but just unpacked a Sergio Ramos which is pretty swish.

The SBC I did for him only cost like 7k too.

[Gray Fox]

Ended up dragging 18 wins out of it. Took me 30 games I believe. Though when I checked my progress in the monthly rewards I'm sure I saw that EA have upped the Elite required number from 112 to 120. I'll need at least 2 weekends hitting 26 or more wins now to reach that.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://www.futhead.com/news/26/fifa-17-totw-predictions-week-25/

Futhead are predicting that Ousmane will get an IF so his OTW price has gone up a bit again.

I want that Arnautovic too.

[Gray Fox]

That's a crazy team if it's true.

I personally think it'll be Sane in the team over Dembele and am tempted to sell in the hype just before the announcement tomorrow. I'm also trying to convince myself not to put all of this money on buying Messi.

I've 670k, which will go up to 700k plus whatever packs 18 wins gets you. Selling Dembele on top of this now would take me to just below a million coins. 2/3 of the way to Ronaldo too. :D

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I bought Sane's OTW a few weeks ago so wouldn't say no to an IF for him either.

[Gray Fox]

https://gyazo.com/0f6636b5929ea6ba9537b0a4d7c0769e.png

That, I believe, is the only way to get 87 Carrasco into my hybrid. The problem position is that central midfielder. He needs to be from La Liga, the same club as one forward and same nationality as the other. Anything less and he gets lowered to 6 chem unless he links in to the midfielders on either side of him. Essentially I'd need a Belgian midfielder from Barcelona or an Argentinian midfielder from Atletico.

[Yevrah]

What a team that is.

Up to 81k of coins now and pulled together a Bundesliga team for the FUT knockout. Renato Sanches is a total beast. Still can't qualify mind. :moop:

On the plus side, just opened a bronze premium pack and pulled Oduro and Mabil. :chief:

[Gray Fox]

What a team that is.

Up to 81k of coins now and pulled together a Bundesliga team for the FUT knockout. Renato Sanches is a total beast. Still can't qualify mind. :moop:

On the plus side, just opened a bronze premium pack and pulled Oduro and Mabil. :chief:

Just a shame I can't afford it :D

Of all the midfielders I've used in this, he's still easily top 3. Kante and Nainggolan are my other 2 there. Your best option is seasons I believe, as you'll learn the way you have to play in the weekend league once you hit the top divisions. I've had to requalify once(mid-January) since getting in back at the start of November and can honestly say the knock outs are more problematic than the weekend itself.

[Yevrah]

What do you need to do through seasons to make it?

[Gray Fox]

Go up from Division 2 or stay in Division 1. Online only.

[The Merse]

Just won promotion to D1 again and with it qualification for Weekend League so will be giving it a go again this weekend. I'll be very happy with my usual Gold 2, but will settle for Gold 3 to be back in the swing of things.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

http://www.futhead.com/17/totw/totw25/

EA have snubbed Messi, Mane, Ousmane and made Arnautovic a RM :(

Some good players but nothing for me unless that SIF Aubameyang makes Lewandowski's TOTGS or SIF more affordable for me.

[Gray Fox]

I'm sorry but I watched that game and Aubameyang in no way at all deserves that card. He scored 2 tap ins and missed a sitter of a 3rd. Also why is Firmino there? He scored 1 goal!

Messi not being there is probably the biggest joke. That's one of those teams that looks good on paper, but in reality there's only going to be 4 players worth a damn in there. I knew I should have sold my Dembele in the hype.

[Lemmo]

That Arnautovic is genuinely filthy.

Finally a decent RM option in the BPL outside Mane.

6ft 3, 4*, 4* he's going to go for a lot.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Sounds like all their servers just shat the bed.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

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

Took the plunge, out goes SBC Muller for the new Thiago.

[Gray Fox]

Meanwhile I've added nothing to my team yet. I've been looking at all the monthly rewards I wont be getting.

I have a horrible feeling my top reward is going to be a goalkeeper. I'm looking at you Leno and Sommer.

[Yevrah]

Are there any hybrids that can get Renato Sanches, Nannngggollain and Kante into the same side without absolutely killing the chemisty or the supporting players being shit?

[Gray Fox]

http://images-eds.xboxlive.com/image?url=MSVnmBUo_fHjbLYMjAEUQ0FE2WIKNOc0z6D1sJ4J ZnQWSAymHU6craH55pGmH9gCJKeb_gfGjh0GXf2lRib3de7l5U xnrkDzp5W2MSE1NlMQgVqApNBD5w1UPXdCN4tItZdMH.pABmP1 oUkvmSXkBXzEPCIBm7dLtk9M942qscx0CCPAZGDTQNFftaoqTP pJQcI9U1IKcg9O8gt2mpEAxjqJVMSQYYAiqw5sr0QhuQErwbta BqcJ..NjRftH9pdFP39f_tlXaIKIgKn9.CXI4LRs3mvraxFb4X llPQA4j7o-&format=png&h=640&w=1138

I'm sorry but that's actually offensive. To put a months worth of good play in and be 'rewarded' by that kills it.

There's not one single player in there I can use currently. As usual nothing from weekly rewards and I'll have around 15k extra once the shit sells or discards.

[Lemmo]

Not to rub it in or anything but I packed 89 Mertens in my monthly's, absolutely nothing in the last few weekly's though.

Going to have to put some sort of filthy Serie A team together now.

[Yevrah]

Come to the conclusion my German team is shite, so I'm going back to Serie A or the BPLNSBB.

Have over 100k to play with, so should be able to do something good.

[Gray Fox]

Not to rub it in or anything but I packed 89 Mertens in my monthly's, absolutely nothing in the last few weekly's though.

Going to have to put some sort of filthy Serie A team together now.

I got 88 Mertens in my rewards for December. He's mental. If you can afford Dybala next to him you'll rinse people.



Come to the conclusion my German team is shite, so I'm going back to Serie A or the BPLNSBB.

Have over 100k to play with, so should be able to do something good.

Serie A is best bang for buck by a long way.

[Samadini]

Are there any hybrids that can get Renato Sanches, Nannngggollain and Kante into the same side without absolutely killing the chemisty or the supporting players being shit?

I quit the game months ago, once I realised that I liked the idea of FIFA more than actually playing it. I would spend hours thinking up new teams and hybrids, then trading to make the coins to make the team possible, play 3 games and them sell them all and do it all over again.

So fuck knows if these supporting players would be considered shit or not, but it's a start (and I still get a kick out of building sides, so thanks), could be tweaked by those who know what they're talking about.

https://s14.postimg.org/tp03hbs0h/dunno_lol.png

[Gray Fox]

I saw new SBCs and used the temporary market drop they bring to do 2 more towards Suarez.

Somehow I pulled Willian out of a standard gold pack and he sold for 26k, essentially paying for the 2 teams bought. That's 17/20 done with 15k lost. Pretty good going, just now the remaining teams cost 140k each and I'm not sure when to pull the trigger on that. Still have 720k to spend. If I pull the trigger on my Bale/Neymar plan I'll have no use for Dembele unless I make him a sub.

It's a little annoying right now because I haven't quite got enough to buy all the players I need, but it wont work without all of them. I was really hoping for something from either set of rewards to give me a boost, but obviously that didn't happen.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I've done it, I've finally fucking cracked it.

http://i.imgur.com/E73thxj.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/MdU0bQm.jpg


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

I'm hardly going to have time this weekend to actually play the league though but still :drool:

First online tournament that I've won on FUT across the years as I've never been able to win 4 in a row in them.

[igor_balis]

Come to the conclusion my German team is shite, so I'm going back to Serie A or the BPLNSBB.

Have over 100k to play with, so should be able to do something good.

Echo the Serie A suggestions. That's pretty much exactly the amount of money I had to play with, and I built something very decent.

Handanovic (Buffon is shite on this one or so I hear, he's got a PPM type thing of staying on his line apparently)
Alex Sandro
Chiellini
Bonucci
Dani Alves

Medel

Marchisio
Naingollan

Perisic
Higuain
Cuadrado


I've got Bruno Peres instead of Alves, and had Mario Rui before I could afford Sandro. Similarly I started with Bonucci instead of Chiellini. Also, if you trust your own defensive ability, you could swap out Medel for Hamsik or something, but I love Medel and do much better with the 4-3-3 DM shape than the AM shape.

Higuain, Marchissio and Naingolan are the stars of the team, though.

[Gray Fox]

I hope you're ready to be fisted Mahow. Not even by your opponents, but the sheer BS that occurs in the weekend league.

Neymars exploits in the PSG game has increased his price to 370k. I did see Bale drop to near the 300k mark though and I've pounced. No doubt it'll be the wrong choice but his price seems to rise to 330k and then fall back slowly to 310k. Got mine for 302k.

I've still got hold of Dembele for now, but either him or Bale will sit on the bench until the full thing is afforded.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I did lose 4-2 after leading 2-0 early on in my very first match which was annoying as fuck.

But 3 wins from my first 7 isn't too bad of a return.

Last game was against a dickhead who kept trying to injure everyone after I went 2 up, luckily nothing stuck and he got 2 red cards.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Harry Kane POTM.

I imagine that many people who believed that it would be Lukaku are pissed.

[Gray Fox]

I was one of those wanting a Lukaku POTM. Apparently this Kane card is only 200k or so. Though I can't say I'm too interested in it.

I've managed to add Neymar after he came down to 340k. Fresh card too. Leaves me with 85k to use or save. I need Casemeiro to link it all up though. I just can't quite afford his 86 card.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I'll probably work on that Kane if his average price drops a bit.

[Gray Fox]

One of the SBCs requires a Spurs TOTW player. That one us only going to get more expensive as supplies dwindle down.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yeah but I'm not overly keen on him, if it somehow drops to 170ish I'd be tempted.

As is, I'll stick with Andre Gray.

5-5 right now.

I think this would be better if it wasn't so many games such a short space of time, I usually only do 2-4 a day.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.futbin.com/17/player/17938/Vidal

New Vidal :drool:

Shame he's come into the market instantly at 2.2 fucking million though.

[Gray Fox]

That Vidal has come down by about half now the hype has gone. I'm glad I bought Neymar when I did as his normal card will rise in price all week.

I haven't started my games yet as I needed to be up early today. Though I'm no longer sure if it's even worth going past 21 wins. Unless the new players make a bit of difference my ability at the game leaves me between 23-27 wins most weeks. I tend not to pack anything anyway and was just carrying on for monthlies. Considering I've seen monthly rewards fuck over almost every elite finisher and give the gold finishers better, I'm not sure.

It sounds easy to hit elite weekly. Just go alternate wins and losses with a 5 game then a 4 game win streak in there somewhere. The past 3 or 4 weekend leagues I've started well to the point of having a good chance for the 29, even twice pulling the necessary 9 wins clear to do it, only for a big loss streak to hit.
I wouldn't mind these Gold 1 finishes, but when you fall short and then get dumped on by getting nothing in your packs. I've not packed anything tradeable over 86 rated and I reckon I'm due something.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Jusst played a guy who went 1-0 up with a really nicely worked goal. He probably could have had more but he kept trying to get sweaty pullbacks and I've gotten quite good at defending them. I was struggling to create anything decent but in the final few seconds Sokratis slipped a lovely through ball into Lewandowski and he slipped it in.

Not much happened in ET so we went to penalties. Based on how he played I knew that he'd be going for those 'just to the side of the keeper' penalties and that he'd be expecting the same from me. Won the shootout 3-0.

Record now at 7-5 which is a hell of a lot better than I predicted at this stage.

[Yevrah]

Made another 50k trading on the MLS last night, those marquee SBC's are an absolute goldmine - bought a bronze for 200 and sold him for 4k, as an example. Now up to 100k in coins again having added Nainggolan to Renato Sanches, just need to get Kante now before working out how to flesh the team out in the short term. Don't think I'll be able to afford the example above just yet.

[Yevrah]

Couple of questions.

Why's that Vidal card blue and why are there no hunter cards on the market?

[Gray Fox]

Couple of questions.

Why's that Vidal card blue and why are there no hunter cards on the market?

All the cards are colour coded. The shiny blue or blue and orange ones are MOTM cards from cup games, whether it be domestic or European. The duller looking blue ones are SBC cards.

There are no hunter cards because they are probably the rarest of the chemistry styles and everyone wants them for their strikers. Combine that with their max price range being 5k means they will instantly sell if you list it up for 5k BIN. If you really want one you have to sit and continually search until one shows up and then snipe it.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Champions League MOTM. Although they can be for other cup competitions as well.

Hunter cards kept instantly bought out at their max buyout (5k), it can take a good few minutes to nab one.

[Gray Fox]

The weekend league has just been extended due to 'connectivity issues.' It expries 2 days and 10 hours-ish from now. So I believe that takes us to about 7am Tuesday morning?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

That's alright for me, I should be able to get my 40 games in now.

I've slid off and I'm only predicted Silver 1 as opposed to Gold 2 this morning.

Lost 3 or 4 in a row and only added one penalty win. Taken a few hours off so hopefully I'll be firing again when I load it up.

Edit: Worse than I thought, I went from 7-5 to 8-11.

[Gray Fox]

The hardest part of this is when you think you've cracked it and got a few wins going, then along comes FIFAGod129846 who proceeds to make you look like you've never played before and sends you on a losing streak. Or when you lose a game you have no right not winning.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

A loss that I should have won is what started this streak.

Just dropped another on a penalty shootout which I usually win. Especially as I saved his first attempt.

[Yevrah]

I love to be involved this, it sounds akin to what I've always thought playing in the Crucible final must be like. Totally draining. :drool:

[Gray Fox]

It's FIFAs version of griding, but if you're one of those people that gets angry at games, it will break you. Quickly.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Finally got back into the win column thanks to a Reus hattrick including this playground style header:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azdzLQ-RV0U

No idea why he brought his keeper out, he was constantly at it. Had I been able to finish my chips (I was scoring them for fun until earlier today) I'd have scored another 4 or so.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Now I've just lost to a team called KN08 J0CK3Y5.

:moop:

[Gray Fox]

I knew you'd love the weekend league.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I haven't found it as bad as I thought it would be but the added sweat and underhand tactics is really annoying.

So many play to not lose rather than win which is just pointless.

Currently on 10 wins with 16 to go, think I'm done for the night. Really hope I hit 18 wins so I don't have to re-qualify for next weekend.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

If anyone has any Rangers players in their squads, sell up.

For some reason every single player is 8k or more right now.

Edit: Marquee matchups.

[Samadini]

Made another 50k trading on the MLS last night, those marquee SBC's are an absolute goldmine - bought a bronze for 200 and sold him for 4k, as an example. Now up to 100k in coins again having added Nainggolan to Renato Sanches, just need to get Kante now before working out how to flesh the team out in the short term. Don't think I'll be able to afford the example above just yet.

Had no idea Alaba, Dybala and 'Gea' were still so expensive. Can flip the defence/midfield to make less expensive versions, take your pick from the shitload of Serie A strikers. I think that SIF Belotti looks like a blinding all rounder, with the Hawk chemistry card. Made a few others that work and would still work after tweaking.

https://s3.postimg.org/ppahwb983/duno.png

https://s7.postimg.org/4kg0nc7nf/yev.png

https://s4.postimg.org/prkw7dym5/yev2.png

If you don't want to spend the coin on Courtois, then any of Allison, Sir Chesney, or a Belgian 'keeper would net you full chem.

[Gray Fox]

EA have done a good job on the transfer market side of things this year. Bringing out so many SBCs has worked a treat in keeping coin totals at bay. I've just done a quick totting up and I've sunk 400k worth of coins into SBC players and I've been very selective on the ones I've done(Buffon, Insigne, Parolo, Emre Can, David Villa and Delle Alli). Once I eventually finish Suarez(17/20) and Lacazette(10/20), That'll add another 500k on top.

Also the top players being able to afford almost any player by now means prices can stay high as everyone has the coins to not need to wait, as they would have done in previous years.

[Gray Fox]

After some advice. I've got the 2 following teams on futbin to show where I may want to take it forward.

Team 1: https://www.futbin.com/17/squad/2311914

Team 2: https://www.futbin.com/17/squad/2350940

One fits in Carrasco and the other Neymar. I'm just wondering which people think is the better of the 2 options?

EDIT: I've built a scaled back version of team 2 and took it into some games. Played 7 and I'm 5-2 with 1 of the 2 being someone using the DC glitch on me. I'm a little disappointed in one of the big time players. Neymar feels like a slightly slower version of OTW Dembele, which is a shame. I really don't imagine he's worth the extra 200k on top of Carrasco. He's only scored 2 goals for me, but in fairness I wasn't playing my free flowing best. I will say though, that he and Bale(on his left foot) are lethal with one chance. That did save me in one of the games. It was even and scrappy but my only chances got put away.
It might have just been tonight. Gameplay did feel a bit sluggish, so I'll carry on with it as it is. See where it takes me.

[Yevrah]

Had no idea Alaba, Dybala and 'Gea' were still so expensive. Can flip the defence/midfield to make less expensive versions, take your pick from the shitload of Serie A strikers. I think that SIF Belotti looks like a blinding all rounder, with the Hawk chemistry card. Made a few others that work and would still work after tweaking.

https://s3.postimg.org/ppahwb983/duno.png

https://s7.postimg.org/4kg0nc7nf/yev.png

https://s4.postimg.org/prkw7dym5/yev2.png

If you don't want to spend the coin on Courtois, then any of Allison, Sir Chesney, or a Belgian 'keeper would net you full chem.



Cheers. I'm on my phone so I can't see, but are all those teams 10 for player chem?

And any options with Kante in the middle?

[Yevrah]

EA have done a good job on the transfer market side of things this year. Bringing out so many SBCs has worked a treat in keeping coin totals at bay. I've just done a quick totting up and I've sunk 400k worth of coins into SBC players and I've been very selective on the ones I've done(Buffon, Insigne, Parolo, Emre Can, David Villa and Delle Alli). Once I eventually finish Suarez(17/20) and Lacazette(10/20), That'll add another 500k on top.

Also the top players being able to afford almost any player by now means prices can stay high as everyone has the coins to not need to wait, as they would have done in previous years.

I'm no economist, but shouldn't the sheer number of coins in the market send prices through the floor?

[Gray Fox]

I'm no economist, but shouldn't the sheer number of coins in the market send prices through the floor?

In previous years, prices would all hit the floor right down to the TOTS cards hitting. The only way to earn coins was through seasons or draft. So having coins was more a case of time played. Few people could put that time in, so the expensive players would drop in price reaosonably quickly.
Now you can have a million coins inside a week. It's more a case of skill plus a little luck. Getting 34 wins in a weekend league will see you get 2 x 100k packs, 2 packs with 3 TOTW players in it and 125k. Getting a decent pull in those packs sees you rolling in it and quickly. So now there is no need for the expensive players to get cheaper. Most good players can afford them by now.

Take me for example. I'm an above average player, no more or less. The weekend league helps remind you of that when you play it. According to the game, I've earned 390k in match earnings and have brought in 1.2m through selling on the market. I can count on one hand the times I've packed someone worth over 20k. Yet I've still got plenty of coins and can afford all but 1 standard card from the game now. Had I good pack luck I'd have more coins than I knew what to do with.

I'd have been interested to see how prices would have coped without SBCs though. As I've said there are plenty of people that have sunk hundreds of thousands into them(me included).

[Samadini]

Cheers. I'm on my phone so I can't see, but are all those teams 10 for player chem?

And any options with Kante in the middle?

They are all 9 or 10, so will be full set of 10s once you get the loyalty point. I'll toy with Kante in the middle now :drool: tempting me to get back involved, but I'm currently balls deep in an FM10 save.

[Samadini]

https://s30.postimg.org/qubmq56pt/yev3.png

The striker can be any Premier League striker you fancy, I just like Lukaku. Willian is the only expensive player there and still easily in your budget, looks a hell of a player for the RF position anyway tbh.


Edit - Forgot I didn't need Vermaelen in there, so upgraded to Manolas.

[Yevrah]

Is the 433 with forwards better than its winger based counterpart?

[Samadini]

Fuck knows, just went with what looked easiest to make a hybrid in. I'm going to spend the next hour building 433 winger hybrids now :D

[Samadini]

Looks too hard tbh, think you'd need to go with the LF/RF version to make it work well.

[The Merse]

Currently sat at 7-2, with one of those defeats being when I was glitched out on in the first 5 mins - the guy paused before the graphics loaded and plunged me into darkness - if I paused I could see the UI but when un-paused there was no UI, no pitch, no players... Nothing. So in effect, I'd say I'm on 7-1. Not a bad start to a weekend where I just hoped to hit Gold 3 (18) to re-introduce myself to the weekend league, knowing I'd struggle to get 40 games in either this or the next weekend. I'll push for the other 11 wins over the next 6 or so hours, which should be possible, but it's good to hit the ground running and know that really only time should prevent me hitting my target this weekend.

[Yevrah]

Servers down for anyone else?

[Gray Fox]

Hopefully not. I was just about to go on. Extend it again!

[Lemmo]

Not playing weekend league in March as I'm away 3 of the 4 weekends.

Just put this team together and it's genuinely ridiculous:

https://www.futbin.com/17/squad/2368304

88 Icardi is absolute silly value for money. He picks it up so many times and the defenders drop deep to watch the runs of Mertens and Dybala and he spanks it top corner from 30 yards at a very consistent level.

Only playing Division 1 at the moment but I've won about 15 on the bounce.

[Gray Fox]

Icardi might be getting another IF card too. Him and Banega both bagged hattricks in a 7-1 win today.

[The Merse]

Icardi just isn't agile enough for me. I twist and turn a lot with my strikers and wingers so I couldn't get on with him.

Picked up 83 rated Kante as part of marquee matchup rewards so sold the 81 version for 10k and stuck him in one of my teams. Also got Rooney and Eriksen so I'm swimming in BPL CMs and CAMs.

11-5 now. Not sure if I can be arsed grabbing the 7 more wins for Gold. I really ought to but I'm flagging trying to do so much in a single day and I can feel my game becoming more restrictive with each passing game.

[Yevrah]

81 Anchor Kante purchased for 8,700. Added Rooney as well for the lols, to go with Wilshere that I packed from an SBC.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

FUCK.

Was winning 1-0, conceded in the last seconds because I switched to the wrong player which enabled him to pass to a player that would have been offside. I then lost on penalties despite saving two of his.

12 wins, 11 to play.

[Gray Fox]

The Merse The weekend league has been extended so you can play Monday night too, if you have the time then.

After doing some looking at the in game stats, I've sold Neymar and bought 87 Carrasco. Neymar only really has better finishing and slightly better dribbling. Carrasco is faster, stronger and importantly has 10 better stamina. Most importantly, he's less than half the price. It means tearing out the Serie A side of my defence, but so be it.

[Yevrah]

Kante's a bit good.

[The Merse]

The Merse The weekend league has been extended so you can play Monday night too, if you have the time then.

After doing some looking at the in game stats, I've sold Neymar and bought 87 Carrasco. Neymar only really has better finishing and slightly better dribbling. Carrasco is faster, stronger and importantly has 10 better stamina. Most importantly, he's less than half the price. It means tearing out the Serie A side of my defence, but so be it.

Off to London tomorrow morning until Wednesday.

Finished up the session soon after on 12 wins with no will to keep playing, particularly with a degraded connection causing a lot of speed up lag.

Still, a relative success of a weekend given I was busy and just wanted to get back to into the groove a bit today. Will try qualifying again via a holding season in D1 on Thursday and give it a blast on Friday and some of Sunday for next weekend league, though Saturday I'm in Edinburgh and I can also see the following weekend being spend with the recent new squeeze, so that'll be off limits. Can't see myself getting a gold or elite month for quite some time. Probably not until I've moved to London as expected, where I should have some more free weekends.

[The Merse]

Oh, and anyone that didn't do the Alli SBC last month... You missed a trick. What a fucking card.

He's taken de Bruyne's place as my forward running CM and is scoring and assisting for fun with an engine on him. May also bring in SIF Keita in place of IF Thiago in the other side to see if he also suits the attacking CM role better. As nice as de Bruyne and IF Thiago are, they aren't great all-rounders for the middle of the park, and Alli's increase in phyical and defensive stats is noticeable whilst seeing no discernible drop off in attacking threat, albeit in a slightly different, less refined manner than with de Bruyne.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yeah, I'm not that great at long shots but I do tend to smash one in with Alli quite regularly with both feet.

Much better than IF Fabregas.

Oh and Keita is incredible, I prefer his TIF over Thiago's 88 card.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Decided to take advantage of the extra time so I've left myself 8 matches for tomorrow night.

15 wins so Gold 3 should be on the cards barring a shit slide tomorrow.

[Yevrah]

Just checked out that TIF Keita. :eek:

It's annoying joining this so late in the season. What are people's favourite IFs and the like so far?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

OTW Dembele and IF Kante are my standouts.

I also really liked Breel Embolo's OTW before I got Dembele, he could have been special had he not picked up an injury.

Kante is the best by far, I have a shadow card on mine and I'll control him when defending. He is the destroyer of attacks.

[Gray Fox]

Just checked out that TIF Keita. :eek:

It's annoying joining this so late in the season. What are people's favourite IFs and the like so far?

Still 5 months left in this game yet. Plenty of time!

My favourites have been IF Ben Yedder. He literally only has 1 weakeness, that being his high defensive workrates. 88 Mertens and OTW Dembele have both been mental for me and 86 Salah was a great card too.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I hadn't played Ben Yedder until this weekend.

I now understand why John loves him so much.

[Gray Fox]

Ramos has been wank and so I've binned him off. Actively cost me 2 games by being 10 yards ahead of the defence. I'm also not impressed by Carrasco so far and Bales shots have suddenly become magnetised to the posts. In short I'm really not enjoying this team and OTW Dembele coming off the bench has really saved me at times. 15 played, 9-6.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Played 4 games and won 3 of them so Gold 3 is secured.

In the last two victories I went 1-0 down quickly but I picked myself up and battered them both. I beat the first 5-1 and then in the next the guy rage quit when I made it 4-1.

Genuinely stunned that I got Gold 3 as I was thinking I'd struggle to get into the silver bracket.

Still have 4 games left so if I manage to keep this form up later tonight I could grab Gold 2.

[Yevrah]

Top stuff Mahow.

[The Merse]

TIF Dembele (85), POTM Sterling (84), POTM Alli (86), SBC Lacazette (87) are all great but IF Gray (81) may be my absolute favourite for his netbusting finishing. He's got that Alan shearer-like quality about him of sticking it in the top corner with consummate ease and vicious power.

I've got SBC Higuain (91) and am 15/20 towards Suarez (94) too. Also have 13+ players for 18 of 20 Bundesliga sides, whilst working on the remaining couple (FC Bayern and Dortmund so the expensive fuckers - actually have about the number of players I need but need to grab a more couple of the highest rated players to meet rating requirement if it's as high as I expect - around the 85 mark). So I should in a decent place to land the anticipated Lewandowski SBC.

Keita has to go. He just doesn't fit into the team he was intended for, reducing Boateng to 8 chem and sitting on 8 chem himself so I may go after Vidal instead.

[The Merse]

Ramos has been wank and so I've binned him off. Actively cost me 2 games by being 10 yards ahead of the defence. I'm also not impressed by Carrasco so far and Bales shots have suddenly become magnetised to the posts. In short I'm really not enjoying this team and OTW Dembele coming off the bench has really saved me at times. 15 played, 9-6.

I love Ramos, paired with Azpilicueta he's exceptional. TOTG Varane is a beast too.

I feel like I should swap Koscielny out for Smalling in one of my teams, but it'd mean dropping Lloris for De Gea in that team and also replacing Bellerin with Walker for chem purposes. Bellerin would the sit alongside Azpilicueta in the other side nicely enough, but I'm not 100% convinced yet. It would allow me to sell Lloris but he's not going for all that much these days so it wouldn't be a great windfall and I'm convinced he's performing better in that side than de Gea in the other. Koscielny not having 90 strength even with an anchor applied is an issue though...

Picked up SIF Koulibaly (86) in my Marquee match up packs and couldn't make use of him, as with TIF Keita (86). Bloomin' Senegal.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

TIF Dembele (85), POTM Sterling (84), POTM Alli (86), SBC Lacazette (87) are all great but IF Gray (81) may be my absolute favourite for his netbusting finishing. He's got that Alan shearer-like quality about him of sticking it in the top corner with consummate ease and vicious power.

I've got SBC Higuain (91) and am 15/20 towards Suarez (94) too. Also have 13+ players for 18 of 20 Bundesliga sides, whilst working on the remaining couple (FC Bayern and Dortmund so the expensive fuckers - actually have about the number of players I need but need to grab a more couple of the highest rated players to meet rating requirement if it's as high as I expect - around the 85 mark). So I should in a decent place to land the anticipated Lewandowski SBC.

Keita has to go. He just doesn't fit into the team he was intended for, reducing Boateng to 8 chem and sitting on 8 chem himself so I may go after Vidal instead.

I really need to start stockpiling Bundesliga players.

[Yevrah]

Another MLS marquee SBC, don't mind if I do.

Decided to bin off the holy trinity hybrid and having sold everyone (bar a Budesliga skeleton squad and some randomers) I'm now up to 166k, 150k of which must be trading in the last two weeks.

Fucking servers are down again though.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Give him a MOTM card.

[Yevrah]

Another 20k made on the MLS and Mexican leagues Marquee SBC.

Why people are paying 1k+ for players to get their hands on an All Players Pack is absolutely beyond me.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Loaded up and lost 2 in a row, gold 2 is dead.

First WL and I finish with a record of 19-20 which isn't too bad.

[The Merse]

Another 20k made on the MLS and Mexican leagues Marquee SBC.

Why people are paying 1k+ for players to get their hands on an All Players Pack is absolutely beyond me.

Some will also be due to the North American SBC with Canadians and Americans needed. Got some good packs out of those.

Where you're missing only say, 10k worth of players to complete all 4 SBC' it's well worth it. I think this weekends were about 75-100k worth of packs? I've pulled a whole bunch of walkouts this year from them. This week - one 80k IF (Koulibaly), a whole bunch of BPL and Bundesliga 75-83's, Rooney and a 15k IF (Xabi Prieto). It cost me about 2k.

Even when you don't hit a big player you generally increase your hoard and where you do hit the big players it's a payday (as with this week), or a top player to have in reserve for future weekend league restrictions (Ozil, Chiellini for me) or just a great card to slot into the team (IF Thiago, Boateng).

Needless to say, if you need to buy EVERYONE it's not worth it, but all players packs are great and Prime players packs are absolute diamond.

Think I got Ronaldo from a mega pack too, which is another regularly on offer. Just need to be savvy about what you're giving up. When the Bundesliga SBC rolls around the players will sky rocket, hence I've gone for 13-14 players per side in reserve (most pack pulled) so to get all of them completed, I'll expect at least a walkout or couple of If's from the 300k worth of packs or so, along with a top SBC player and a coin reward of around 30k. I did Calcio A for probably 50k by doing the same with it so made a nice profit with the rewards and got myself a shit hot Higuain. .

[Yevrah]

Fair points. When's the Bundesliga SBC likely to hit and do the other current league ones ever expire? It'd be nice to be able to build a cheap Serie A side again.

Must have made about 70k from trading tonight, up to 220k coins now and looking spending some on this:

http://i63.tinypic.com/33212qp.jpg

I packed Marega a while back and he's an absolute beast, so it'd be nice to max his chemistry.

[Yevrah]

With Semedo for Cedric.

[Gray Fox]

I love Ramos, paired with Azpilicueta he's exceptional. TOTG Varane is a beast too.

I feel like I should swap Koscielny out for Smalling in one of my teams, but it'd mean dropping Lloris for De Gea in that team and also replacing Bellerin with Walker for chem purposes. Bellerin would the sit alongside Azpilicueta in the other side nicely enough, but I'm not 100% convinced yet. It would allow me to sell Lloris but he's not going for all that much these days so it wouldn't be a great windfall and I'm convinced he's performing better in that side than de Gea in the other. Koscielny not having 90 strength even with an anchor applied is an issue though...

Picked up SIF Koulibaly (86) in my Marquee match up packs and couldn't make use of him, as with TIF Keita (86). Bloomin' Senegal.

I think it was my midfield. After buying the big players I had next to no coins left and so had a midfield of POTM Alli, MOTM Casemiro and standard Kovacic. Alli is great but the other 2 were letting it down. Given that most people have a fast, strong attacking line by now, one or the other was causing them a problem they couldn't solve. Looking at it my preferred midfielders are the strong box-to-box type so it's no wonder it failed. I got myself to 15-7, which is not a bad recovery, but then came a 5 loss streak. Most of which involved me taking the lead too.
My final game before leaving for work convinced me I needed to change. I'd noticed more and more I'd be bringing Dembele, Martial and Mertens off the bench at, or just after half time. And considering the value of Bale/Carrasco, that's not on really. But this game saw me create about 5 great chances. 3 of which fell to Carrasco. Penalty spot distance from goal and despite twice using a finesse and once using the low driven shot, he completely missed the goal all 3 times. Luckily Dembele coming on for him bagged a 1-0 for me. As soon as the match was over I listed the expensive guys up and I'm back to having 715k to play with. It's disappointing it didn't work, but Bale and Carrasco both had less than 10 goals in near 30 games.

In search of a new team now, but will hop on and try to improve on 16-12. It's been a struggle with this team.

[Yevrah]

Actually Cacelo at right back and I can use that team for another futile attempt to qualify for the weekend league.

[Gray Fox]

Managed to go from 16-12 to 21-16. Kind of win for loss, but it was a strange experience. I got my 2 wins needed to qualify almost instantly. Went 2-0 up in my first 2 games and both people quit in the first half. It was hard work after that as I was matched up against some very good players. The team felt 10x better than the previous one, which is a little sad as I think it was mostly down to Kante. This does now mean it'll be hard to make elite for the month, but I've given up on that after last months shit rewards. I'd need 27 wins a week from here.

Team wise I don't know where to go now. I've been trying to avoid the full EPL team all game as everyone and their mother uses one. But the only options I have left are that, a good Bundesliga team or one of a single nationality. Whichever it is, trying it out before starting the weekend league might be a good idea.

[John]

Managed to go from 16-12 to 21-16. Kind of win for loss, but it was a strange experience. I got my 2 wins needed to qualify almost instantly. Went 2-0 up in my first 2 games and both people quit in the first half. It was hard work after that as I was matched up against some very good players. The team felt 10x better than the previous one, which is a little sad as I think it was mostly down to Kante. This does now mean it'll be hard to make elite for the month, but I've given up on that after last months shit rewards. I'd need 27 wins a week from here.

Team wise I don't know where to go now. I've been trying to avoid the full EPL team all game as everyone and their mother uses one. But the only options I have left are that, a good Bundesliga team or one of a single nationality. Whichever it is, trying it out before starting the weekend league might be a good idea.

With the coins I had lying spare after essentially completing my perfect La Liga side I made Serie A and Bundesliga sides and the Serie A one is absolutely lovely. The latest Immobile IF with a Hawk card on him is like that version of Pro Evo where Adriano had 99 for everything. No idea how you'd go about building one and accommodating the players you already have who are untradeable or whatever (although I'm sure you have a striker Mertens, do you not?) but for what the side I built cost they seem heavily overpowered compared to the same value of player from La Liga or Bundesliga.

Stick a Hunter on that Marega bloke, Yev, and it's difficult to imagine a better striker for a particular style of football, one which you're obviously playing if he's been dominating for you.

[The Merse]

Yevrah given that the la Liga and Serie A ones were a month apart, I'm expecting it this month. I'm not sure they'll do a BPL given the POTM SBC's but I'm pretty well set for that too. If they do, I hazard it'll be the last one. I'm also expecting a random ROTW one like Greece soon enough. The others have no time limit. Giovinco and Lacazette are great, the latter having been a mainstay for me and the former coming in handy when I need to have italians or MLS for squad restrictions.
Sir Andy Mahowry that's a great record for the first time you qualified. As I've said and GF has too, it's harder to qualify than hit gold 3 IMHO so I was interested to see how you'd get on and you've somewhat proven the point. Aiming for Gold 1 is he biggie now. Gold 2 and 1 rewards really help the club out.

[Yevrah]

Inspired by Merse's talk of packing Ronaldo I did all of one of the Hybrid SBC's.

5 packs of absolutely nothing.

[Gray Fox]

You just found out why people do the SBCs. That outside chance of packing someone great.

Still congrats Mahow. Hitting Gold anything on your first go is great. You'll get used to the BS and the dirty tactics the more you play in it. Be glad you didn't play in it before they nerfed Park The Bus a little. It was essentially first goal wins. There's a certain way to play it, but I'm sure you'll pick it up.

[The Merse]

Inspired by Merse's talk of packing Ronaldo I did all of one of the Hybrid SBC's.

5 packs of absolutely nothing.

You have to build up he club and commit where the value is there. Generally though- where might think packs are 'nothing'. Remember Toulouse silvers are still 8-15k, as are a fair few French silvers, and that anyone else will provide with more SBC fodder. I've done very nicely out of it and I enjoy it. It gives me something to play for aside from just building the starting XI like in previous previous years.

[The Merse]

You just found out why people do the SBCs. That outside chance of packing someone great.

Still congrats Mahow. Hitting Gold anything on your first go is great. You'll get used to the BS and the dirty tactics the more you play in it. Be glad you didn't play in it before they nerfed Park The Bus a little. It was essentially first goal wins. There's a certain way to play it, but I'm sure you'll pick it up.

Must say, this was a more enjoyable weekend. Being in elite form for most of it was good too. Great to play a few more attacking players.

[Yevrah]

You have to build up he club and commit where the value is there. Generally though- where might think packs are 'nothing'. Remember Toulouse silvers are still 8-15k, as are a fair few French silvers, and that anyone else will provide with more SBC fodder. I've done very nicely out of it and I enjoy it. It gives me something to play for aside from just building the starting XI like in previous previous years.

There was nothing, highest resale value was 2k.

[The Merse]

There was nothing, highest resale value was 2k.

So you keep them for they're of value. SBC's have made the market dynamic.

[Yevrah]

Of course, but I'm not arsed with it to that extent.

Had an absolute shocker trying to qualify for the FUT league tonight, coming up against so many obscene teams.

[Gray Fox]

Merse has it. Every card in this game has been valuable at some point due to a SBC. Unless you really need the coin, keep them or burn them in further SBCs. The idea is to keep the packs rolling in and hope for a pull.

I've decided to do the Lacazette SBC this week when rewards hit. He shares similar stats to IF Ben Yedder and you're essentially trading his 5* weak foot, for +6 sprint speed, +3 stamina but more importantly +22 strength. It's the strength I feel will make the difference.

I've also noticed a card I missed from this weeks MOTM selection and it's Tolisso. He looks an absolute beast and is cheaper because of the league he's in.

Here's him next to IF Nainggolan who is more than double his price.
https://gyazo.com/96bd028167d6ba886e4e33cf2ac4a1e1.png

Him being French makes him very interesting. He can easily link up to many players and could be used in some hybrids. If he comes down closer to 150k I may be tempted to pick him up.

[Gray Fox]

To those who love an SBC, the Eredivisie league can now be done for about 90k on both platforms. You get 22.5k when you complete it too, so already down to below 70k. The player you get isn't the best, but there are 8 silver packs in there. Each individual challenge is below 7k, so you're not having to pull much to cover the cost.
You're probably more likely to pull a valuable silver than from the gold packs, but like I say, anything more than discard value is going to pay for each individual SBC.

Also a 'FIFA insider' reckons we're getting a MOTM Kanté, Son and Sané this week. If this is true, IF Kanté owners among us might want to sell up before the card loses value. Aside from that, another MOTM Son would be interesting. They'd surely have to make him a LW or else his 86 striker card is going to lose all value.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Sold mine for 292k.

If he doesn't get a MOTM card I'm bombing that FIFA insider.

[John]

Do OTW cards get boosts to match MOTM cards? I have a mate who pulled a OTW Sane in week one when it could have sold for a couple of hundred thousand coins and resisted my advice to sell it because he was too raw to properly thrive in a 'Pep' side. I wasn't entirely right, but he hasn't had a MOTM so the card has plummeted and I could be doing without the dose of smugness a massive and unexpected upgrade would bring.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

They don't.

But, it means if they get an IF after it will mean a much bigger boost.

Ousmane Dembele's OTW went from 77 to 84 as he got an 83 TOTGS card.

[Gray Fox]

He's been right on everything before and has shared this...

https://gyazo.com/75ef05535a0f69c8a5160ee70406b854.png
John the only upgrades that count with OTW cards are TOTW. Nothing else will count, however it does mean the next OTW upgrade will be higher. Sané for example will now be at least an 83 the next time he gets a TOTW. Kanté will also go to 87 the next time etc.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Christ on a bike, at least I'll be able to get back the IF for a lot less.

Son looks nutty too.

[John]

He's started to come right onto a game too, the little German twat, so I fancy he'll get a TOTW before long. The same bloke has OTW Kante too, so that MOTM group would be a bit of a coup for him, without him having to even think about getting any of them.

[Gray Fox]

It'll at least put the price of his OTW cards up either way.

Also:

842072941676400640

This might push me into getting IF Kanté when he goes cheaper. He's 270k now. Hopefully he drops closer to 200.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Kante's IF is up to 310k :moop:

[John]

Loving the look of IF Ever Banega and Benatia. Could very much see myself buying those two when their prices come down.

The star of this week's show is SIF Nicolai Jorgensen though. These stats and he's opened up at 30k.

https://i.gyazo.com/b78cab439998ce9d851cf885ea9c2742.png

Almost worth putting together a little hybrid side just to try him out.

[Gray Fox]

Team 1:

https://gyazo.com/5913910e410cb9bedfbe1ca730c62873.png

Team 2:

https://gyazo.com/2b919c1400b9c5ccc02b42b5ac0b5a96.png


I've used almost all of those players before and know I like them, with the exception of Aubameyang and Vidal. Essentially the difference is if I spend the coin on extra up top, or extra at the back. Team 1 costs 1 million bang on. Team 2 costs 1.2 million. Given I own Dembele already, that's 200k of the cost of each. I can afford Team 1 now, but the 2nd is slightly out of range. That's what I'm looking at for now though. My budget is 800k and I reckon I can knock something nice up and use the current side as a fitness team.
I'm looking through FUTBIN for what kind of squad I can get for my current coin. Suggestions more then welcome, but would like to avoid La Liga.

[The Merse]

Merse has it. Every card in this game has been valuable at some point due to a SBC. Unless you really need the coin, keep them or burn them in further SBCs. The idea is to keep the packs rolling in and hope for a pull.

I've decided to do the Lacazette SBC this week when rewards hit. He shares similar stats to IF Ben Yedder and you're essentially trading his 5* weak foot, for +6 sprint speed, +3 stamina but more importantly +22 strength. It's the strength I feel will make the difference.

I've also noticed a card I missed from this weeks MOTM selection and it's Tolisso. He looks an absolute beast and is cheaper because of the league he's in.

Here's him next to IF Nainggolan who is more than double his price.
https://gyazo.com/96bd028167d6ba886e4e33cf2ac4a1e1.png

Him being French makes him very interesting. He can easily link up to many players and could be used in some hybrids. If he comes down closer to 150k I may be tempted to pick him up.

Very tempted to whack Tolisso in for Matuidi in one of my teams. That or stick him in a Serie A hybrid with SBC Lacazette alongside SBC Higuain and turn one of my Bundesliga-BPL-Ligue 1 Hybrid into a straight Bundesliga-BPL hybrid again, though I had marked down SBC Higuain as being in a Serie A-La Liga hybrid, moving across Ramos and Alba when I have SBC Suarez and bringing in a couple more players I've fancied playing with. However, should I make the Lacazette/Higuain based hybrid I could make the side Lacazette is currently in a Bundesliga only side and finally play TIF Keita (who I've sold, so I'd need to dive in again at 60k-odd) and the anticipated SBC Lewandowki.

So many cards I want to retain, so many I want to bring in, so little time playing the damn game now. Ach, we'll see...

Tonights aim is to set myself up for survival in Div 1 to qualify for the weekend. 1 game in, 1 win.

[Gray Fox]

What do we reckon this SBC Lewa will be then, 92 rated? I had in mind it was going to be Auba as for some reason thought he grabbed top scorer last season.

They need to change it up a little next year I think. Maybe include the top performing midfielder and defender too. There's too many strikers now to fit them all in your squads.

Still, good luck Merse.

[John]

Making more dynamic requirements and offering a couple of players as rewards is where I think the SBC thing will go next year. Maybe the standard squad from every club in the league gets you a Reus or the like, but add an 86 overall side from the league as a whole and a Polish national team and you can bump it up to Lewandowski. That sort of thing.

[Yevrah]

Anyone had a go at the pot of gold stuff?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Shit WL rewards for me.

Best pull was Garay, unless I pulled a mental silver.

[The Merse]

Anyone had a go at the pot of gold stuff?

Yup, players shit, but effectively made 60k odd on a bunch of bronze and silver Oirish in my reserves via the trade in for cash ones.

[The Merse]

Shit WL rewards for me.

Best pull was Garay, unless I pulled a mental silver.

Got two IF's through them and the Roy Keane SBC.

A fucking Silver IF from the Ekstraklasse and a Colombian 85 rated CAM who looks great but is BIN-ing at 17k. :nono: