FIFA 19 - Sponsored by Promes to Sevilla

[Yevrah]

That was immense.

[Danny]

https://clips.twitch.tv/AnnoyingFriendlyFinchCmonBruh

[Yevrah]

Sorted through my silvers, listed loads and made 28 common gold upgrade packs.

Can’t open those until I’ve cleared the club of golds and I think I have about 900 to put into upgrade packs.

I’ll do that tomorrow night now, which should take me to over 200 packs for Saturday’s opening.

Nep’s taking about it now, but there’s definitely something to be said about clearing your club out for toty and going again from there. I think it’ll be the norm for most going forward.

[Gray Fox]

He's just raised a good point in stream. Given the state of the boosts for the TOTY cards, if you have a fair amount of coins saved and your team is already set, then you might as well pump everything into this as come Monday at 6:01pm, it's essentially grinding towards TOTS.

Don't sell your team, but throw everything in. You may well end up getting nothing out of it, but these are the best cards there will be in the game. If you spend 2 million and get one that isn't De Gea or Marcelo you've technically won with all the other shit you can do with what comes out of the packs. If you fail, you fail but then there's not likely to be anything until TOTS and you still have your team that you're happy with.

Yevrah great minds think alike.

[Yevrah]

Yep, that’s the plan. I’d fucking love to pack a blue. Considering using my golds to build La Liga packs exclusively from this point, both the 25k and 7.5k packs.

All things considered I’ll probably buy Mbappe anyway and would take any of the La Liga players over most of the rest. Well, bar Ronaldo, but it’s pointless trying for him.

[Gray Fox]

Plan is Keane to Ballack, then everything back into the upgrades until I can't carry on. The exception being if it is Salah/Son that wins POTM.

EDIT:

If I'm right, the most efficient method for this would be to get yourself 11 rares, get the first pack open, then take the 3 rares into the club and take the other 9 non-rare into the standard gold upgrade. Buy the 2 you are missing and then open up. You get the teeny chance of a pull here(I got Ramos from one last week) but will mostly get 2 trash rare.

You now have 5 rares, so go and buy 6. Submit, open the pack, rinse repeat.

Consensus seems to be to cut out the 7.5k ones completely.

[Yevrah]

It depends. With the 7.5k packs you have a chance to pull 2 (or even 3) rare players anyway, plus consumables and other goodies and, perhaps most importantly, you’re receiving from a pool of players exclusively from the league you want the TotY from.

With the consumables etc. my gut would be that the 7.5k packs offer better value than the two player upgrade packs, but I suppose it depends on which you’re more likely to pack a higher rated player or icon from.

If it was the French league I’d say the 7.5k packs as that league is awash with silvers, but as it’s La Liga I’d say it’s debatable and see your point.

Where I have got to is that I think I’ll give myself the best chance of packing a toty if I stick to one league in the first instance then move on if I somehow am lucky enough y get one, which is a slightly different point to the above, but does make me slightly regret splitting the 20 premium upgrade packs I’ve crafted so far between La Liga and the EPL.

[Yevrah]

Good to see prices have fallen overnight, which is very promising for later. If I sell RTTF Telles and Renato Sanches I’ll have enough now to buy Mbappe and Marcelo.

I’ll obviously hold fire to see what I pack, but it does mean anything I do pack is a bonus and I’ll be recycling the packs until all the players are gone. :drool:

[Yevrah]

Some advice on crossing.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FIFA/comments/ael247/brief_list_of_crossing_options_and_when_to_use/

[Yevrah]

And here's the table of the number of rares etc in each league.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FIFA/comments/aej291/something_to_help_with_the_league_upgrade_sbcs/

If Neymar is in I think that's almost confirmed that I'll go La Liga Premium packs and Ligue 1 7.5k packs.

[Gray Fox]

I have serious suspicions that this scumbag community will vote Pogba, but I'm also waiting on the 12th man before I decide where to go.

At present La Liga looks worth it with fewer rare golds being available. Crazy to think if it is Neymar there will only be 6 walkouts and 2 of those are TOTY cards.

Still no sign of POTM which worries me. I hope they aren't leaving it til Monday.

[Yevrah]

Are you building a fuck load of packs too then?

[Gray Fox]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dwo4G8wUcAAOBnK.jpg

I'm going to have to now.

EDIT: Holy shit the thing needs 12 TOTW players!

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Really wish I hadn't redeemed my WL yesterday.

Haven't played yet because I can't be arsed, hopefully later today I'll feel more up to it and I can scrape Silver 1.

[SincereTheRebel]

I would have done the VVD, but those 14IFs scare me. I bought his SIF card for 349k via web app instead. It dropped 50k in 15 minutes.

Have they patched the position change madness yet?

[Yevrah]

500k to do it apparently.

[Gray Fox]

I forgot to count one of the challenges!

Still a lot cheaper than the initial holy shit moment suggested. I'd advise people do it too. With a winter upgrade he'll go up to 90 or 91 rated. Comes in at a nice price point between his standard and his TOTY card too.

[Yevrah]

If I pack TOTY De Gea (I won't) I'd consider it, but other than that I can't fit him into my team for chemistry reasons as I'm set on having Marcelo and Dani Alves marauding the wings.

[Gray Fox]

I'm really, really hoping this means Salah will be the 12th man.

I could fit this Van Dijk into my team and then be about the price of TOTY De Gea if I were to change my plan up.

[Danny]

I could get him in my team for RTTF Sanchez. Would cost me 100k more per Futbin.

Not sure it’s worth it.

[SincereTheRebel]

.

Have they patched the position change madness yet?

Also where can I check potential upgrades for players and how do you change your club name as ive already used the store name change

[Yevrah]

If you've used the store name change and the one in starter objectives then you'll have to wait until FIFA20 now, assuming you can't contact EA and ask them to do it.

[Gray Fox]

I could get him in my team for RTTF Sanchez. Would cost me 100k more per Futbin.

Not sure it’s worth it.

Do the loan and try him. Thank me later.

[Yevrah]

Talking of Van Dijk, I see Castro's now packed his TOTY twice untradeable.

I'm itching to get these packs finished and crack on with the opening in the morning.

[Danny]

Do the loan and try him. Thank me later.

:D yeah I was planning on it. Virgil and RTTF Kimpembe at the back :drool:

[Gray Fox]

The price of his 87 2IF has absolutely died as well. Down 110k since 3pm. Considering that could well go up to 89 rated itself, that wouldn't be a bad hold.

I've seen many horror stories of people doing these packs for days and getting nothing, so I dread it a little.

[The Merse]

Did MM's and TOTY Challenges today as I was too drunk last night.

Got another Prime Butragueno :D

[Gray Fox]

Ban him.

Ban him now.

[Yevrah]

I'd start opening upgrade packs if I were you Merse....

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Wanker.

[SincereTheRebel]

Ive never heard of that Butragueno player. Images, Wiki. Ive read up about him and I have no idea who the fuck he is. He is the only legend in the game I have zero experience about.

[SincereTheRebel]

If you've used the store name change and the one in starter objectives then you'll have to wait until FIFA20 now, assuming you can't contact EA and ask them to do it.

Damm.

[Gray Fox]

Can people on your friends list still gift you things? Might be worth a try if so.

[Yevrah]

Good shout, that might work.

Are you on Xbox Sincere? I still have mine left and you're welcome to that if so.

[Yevrah]

Leaks are looking like Neymar won.

[SincereTheRebel]

No, I'm on PS4. I can get the friends list to gift me.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Marcelo and Van Dijk IN.

[The Merse]

Sorry chaps.

If it's any consolation he sold for 200k less than the first one I packed. 1.43m coins on their way though, which was nice as I'd spent 1.015m on TOTY Marcelo precisely 10 minutes previous to that. Who's very, very good.


Having a little dilemma now. Get TOTY Varane and keep that Marcelo, re-instating Courtois in goal and booting Big Sol to the B Team?

Or sell MArcelo and another million coins worth of players and buy TOTY Mbappe?

I'd love Modric, but with the way I swap around Koke and Griezmann, that's not going to work. I may just hang on for this Bale to come out by some means and look to whack him on the left, selling IF Griezmann and then go for Modric.

[Gray Fox]

Flashback Zlatan, The Inter RB I can't spell, nominee and confirmed Neymar.

I'm not angry with those last 2, I'm just disappointed.

[Yevrah]

Zlatan is cool and I just picked up one of his gold card for the Sweden bit of the SBC.

The Inter RB is largely pointless for me and I'm not fucking around scoring x goals with y wanker again unless it's truly worth it.

Neymar makes it an interesting choice with which upgrade packs to go with.

[Yevrah]

Zlatan's 200k, still has atrocious balance and is a pain to link, so I think I might pass after all.

[Gray Fox]

Okay now I just don't know what to do. Got absolutely fuck all I wanted from these 2 days.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just stuck up a Ryan Fraser IF who went for 23.5k. I believe that's double what he was going for yesterday.

[The Merse]

Another awful Friday. 3-4, three of which were losses to truly awful players, but I just cannot defend today, and I had to get rid of Casillas. He's shite, unfortunately.

[Yevrah]

Was it his height on finesse shots?

[Yevrah]

The price of golds have shot through the roof due to those TOTY SBC's, which makes me not want to put them into upgrades. Grrr.

[The Merse]

Was it his height on finesse shots?

6'1'' and I've largely played cross and finesse spammers. I've pegged his height as the issue too. Good off his line, mind.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

3-2 although I should really be 4-1.

Marcelo is genuinely great, his crossing is such a great weapon.

[Gray Fox]

Said fuck it and carried on with the Keane into Ballack plan. Keane is done, but I got absolutely nothing from the packs. Not a single walkout. That has fucked me over a little as now I'm short of the money estimated needed for Ballack.

I'll scrimp and save it from somewhere but this entire TOTY promo has been a disaster.

[Yevrah]

Up to 150 packs now (with 30 common gold upgrade ones included still to convert) and only 1,000 more players in the club to go through.

The new SBC's have made this much more annoying as previously the plan was to whack all the players in without even checking (as they were all going for buttons), which I'm loathed to do now as some are selling for 1.5k+.

Starting to feel like a part time job and I've had enough for tonight. I'll still be opening tomorrow, but it'll be the afternoon now and will probably go long into the night.

Marcelo and Mbappe have gone up by 300k combined from earlier as well, so I may just buy them when they hit a combined 4.5m again.

[Danny]

Did the two challenges and got IF Fraser in one. Not bad at all

[Gray Fox]

Up shit creek without a paddle here.

According to FUTBIN, the pieces I can tick off Ballack already in the club, will have the cost down to 950k. I only have 750k left.

I've just opened my last upgrade packs and got Fraser IF(fucking troll) from the EPL one and then Isco from a 2 player upgrade pack. That'll take me down to to just under 900k needed.

I'm down to 3 options now really.

1. Keep Keane in the team. Use the entire 750k remaining on rinsing through the upgrade packs.
2. Keep Keane in the team. Do POTM Van Dijk. Spend remaining coins on upgrade packs.
3. Gamble and do the 3 highest rated parts of Ballack along with submitting the Icon. 2 x 100k pack an ultimate and rare mega back with needing to get about 150k from it.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I know Neymar had a high starting rating but it doesn't feel right having with an overall that high. He's the 12th Man yet only a handful are better than him in the team.

[Danny]

Yev how are you rinsing your club? Bronze into Silver > Silver into gold > gold into upgrades?

[Gray Fox]

I'd say he is.

He's also going to be very particular about tomorrow. Expect lots of backing out to fill up other packs and so on.

If I had half his club planning ability I'd be fucking unstoppable on this.

[Danny]

I want to do it with what I have but it sounds like a right ballache.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yeah I couldn't do it.

I'm doing loads of La Liga/Prem packs but shifting everything is some effort.

[Raoul Duke]

That Vrsaljko will be mine :drool:

Need him on the right, want to pick up Alex Sandro for LB and then Chiellini in the middle. That'd leave me clear to work towards Florenzi/Cancelo

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I've now cleared all untradeable gold's lower that 83 in my club.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

All rare gold's under 82 are also gone.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

All non rares gone now too.

Still have 481 players though so must have loads of silvers.

[The Merse]

Brought in TOTY Varane as Campbell was suspended and I wanted to give him a go. He’s fucking awesome. I may sell the non-playing players in the club to fund TOTY Mbappe - I think it’ll just about make it, and I’d likely sit on my first team for months then. It’ll take an age and a half to sell up mind.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

55 league specific packs (about 30 the shit ones) and only 2 walkouts.

Balls.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I have fuck all coins left now but here's the squad:

https://i.imgur.com/9GH5tV2.jpg

Scholes is at CAM to get Kondogbia on full chem but I'll switch with KDB in game.

[Gray Fox]

Some club sacrifices had to be made. My 90 Thiago Silva, gone. Almost all of my FUT Champs reds, gone. However that Isco I packed before was vital. Means I went from not being able to do it, to I've just done Ballack with 25k left in the bank.

Sod all from all but the final ultimate pack which contained Handanovic. That was the only walkout from both sets, Keane and Ballack.

So I've taken all the resulting 82 and below rated cards and I got 8 La Liga packs and a few gold upgrades. Managed to get a decent walkout in one of them though:

https://i.gyazo.com/689d6c5d5e48d06401633c7419878147.png

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Bastard.

[Yevrah]

Your pack luck has been outrageous this year Fox. Gg’s I think is the term.

As for how I did the packs, hit the stream tomorrow and I’ll talk through it. Dusted off the Kinect today, there’s a scratch on the lens but it works.

Some positive save Maria style community thinking and we’ll pack our second TTH blue.

[thommo]

What time will you be streaming tomorrow Yev?

Personally I have about 20 packs from SBCs, but around 8-900 players in the club that can be put into squad SBCs or the upgrade packs. That'll be my main aim tomorrow late evening and Sunday. Glad I didn't go for the FUT Champions qualification last night now, as my time is even more limited this weekend.

Insane pull GF, and you too Merse. Twice pulling the same icon is pretty nuts.

[Yevrah]

Probably from early afternoon. Might even do it earlier while I’m finishing the packs off. I’ll post in the morning advising of the time.

[The Merse]

Changed things up a bit to counter the torrid time I was having, opting to emply drop deep in my balanced tactics, to counter my quick build up. I've also made my attacking formation more aggressive, bringing up the full backs when needed, and that's helped too, especially with Marcelo as one of them.

TOTY Varane has improved things, he just doesn't get turned like Sol does, and Courtois back in for Casillas has seen me go from conceding 16 in 6 to 16 in 11.

Back at a positive record finally, winning 5 of my last 6 and the sole defeat coming on pens against someone who completely fluked his two equalisers out of nowhere. Feeling a little less humiliated now.

Cavani remains a beast. 17 games, 17 goals, 11 assists.

[Gray Fox]

Cheers guys, only just about stopped buzzing.

I don't know what's gone on this year but that's a TOTY to add to CR7 and Messi from packs now. I now have an untradeable 91 Ramos that I've nothing to do with.

That leaves the team like this:

https://i.gyazo.com/5698958f959aa99205e829c519ae7ff9.png

My only problem now is that Ballack SBC has knocked me right down to 70k in the club. There's not a great deal I can do with that, but I need a new CAM/RAM. Right now I'm having to have Raul out on the left and whilst it's okay, he's so much better in the middle. Aubameyang grates on me a little these days as well.

I also redeemed my entry to the WL out of habit so I'll have to play some tomorrow.

I could whack that last 70k on upgrade packs, try and find a use for that 91 Ramos or just hold now and try to rebuild coins.

[Yevrah]

Nepenthez packed Varane tonight.

It’s on for tomorrow gents. It’s on.

[The Merse]

GF, that's fucking brilliant. Well deserved.

Is he tradable?

[The Merse]

Did some Ligue 1 players packs. From three, I landed Verratti, Lopes, Glik and Strootman, which is all decent SBC fodder at least.

[SincereTheRebel]

Ive got rare gold tradeabke cards. Lots of them. Should i be putting them through upgrades? What is most efficient ?

[Trancemeister]

Did probably about 15 upgrade packs yesterday by just rinse and repeat. Best I got was Lukaku and Firmino.

[Gray Fox]

GF, that's fucking brilliant. Well deserved.

Is he tradable?

Unfortunately not, but luckily I was already using Ramos so he slots straight in. I'd love to partner him with one of his Madrid teammates but that'll have to wait a little while.

[Gray Fox]

I'm looking at my team options to try and shuffle it about a bit and create some funds. I also packed a Saul in my rewards which is apparently near 20k and I've Di Maria who is pretty much extinct at 10k BIN and I can't figure out why.

This has me just over 100k now.

I'm toying with the idea of selling Neymar for a couple of weeks. I've still the 86 red Willian from an age back that would tide me over for a few weeks.

I want to pair Ramos with Van Dijk(either POTM or TOTY) and can then bring De Gea/Marcelo in, with the eventual upgrade to their TOTY cards. I also want that Zlatan.

The other option is sell Neymar and dump the entire lot into these upgrade packs.

[The Merse]

do Maria is due to the Ibra requirement for a PSG player. I sold a Verratti for 35k yesterday as a result.

[Boom-Boom-18]

Come on Yev, get on with this pack opening. I am interested to see the results.

87 Mahrez really is a joy to play with, I wish I could find someone similar (with a 5* w/f - right footed) to use on the left hand side. FUTMas Coutinho looks like the closest thing but obviously that isn't an option.

I currently use UCL Live Sanchez who is good but doesn't feel as smooth. I am tempted to go for Hazard 92 IF but it's a lot of money for a small upgrade on his NIF.

[Yevrah]

Sorry Boom.

I'll be on from 4 I'd say - back on building the packs now.

[Yevrah]

In the meantime and for a bit of fun, from 250 packs (or so - an estimate from starting with 200 or so and recycling), how many of the following do you think I'll pack:

TOTY (1 point for a 0 answer if correct, 5 for a correct one otherwise)
Icons (1 point for a 0 answer if correct, 3 for a correct one otherwise)
IF Walkouts (3 points for a correct guess, 2 points for whoever is the closest otherwise)
Walkouts (3 points for a correct guess, 2 points for whoever is the closest otherwise)
IFs (3 points for a correct guess, 2 points for whoever is the closest otherwise)
Boards (3 points for a correct guess, 2 points for whoever is the closest otherwise)
Kagawas (3 points for a correct guess, 2 points for whoever is the closest otherwise)

Kagawa's count in both the Kagawa section and the Boards section.

4,600 FIFA Points to whoever gets the most points.

[Yevrah]

Changed the points structure slightly.

And I need to go high to low when doing these packs as I've come so close to losing Futmas De Bruyne on more than one occasion now. :moop:

[Boom-Boom-18]

In the meantime and for a bit of fun, from 250 packs (or so - an estimate from starting with 200 or so and recycling), how many of the following do you think I'll pack:

TOTY (1 points for a 0 answer if correct, 5 for a correct one otherwise)
Icons (1 points for a 0 answer if correct, 3 for a correct one otherwise)
IF Walkouts (3 points for a correct guess, 2 points for whoever is the closest otherwise)
Walkouts (3 points for a correct guess, 2 points for whoever is the closest otherwise)
IFs (3 points for a correct guess, 2 points for whoever is the closest otherwise)
Boards (3 points for a correct guess, 2 points for whoever is the closest otherwise)
Kagawas (3 points for a correct guess, 2 points for whoever is the closest otherwise)

Kagawa's count in both the Kagawa section and the Boards section.

4,600 FIFA Points to whoever gets the most points.

Good game.

TOTY - 1
Icons - 1
IF Walkouts - 2
Walkouts - 35
IFs - 25
Boards - 105
Kagawas - 4

Interested to see the results of this.

[Trancemeister]

In the meantime and for a bit of fun, from 250 packs (or so - an estimate from starting with 200 or so and recycling), how many of the following do you think I'll pack:

TOTY (1 point for a 0 answer if correct, 5 for a correct one otherwise)
Icons (1 point for a 0 answer if correct, 3 for a correct one otherwise)
IF Walkouts (3 points for a correct guess, 2 points for whoever is the closest otherwise)
Walkouts (3 points for a correct guess, 2 points for whoever is the closest otherwise)
IFs (3 points for a correct guess, 2 points for whoever is the closest otherwise)
Boards (3 points for a correct guess, 2 points for whoever is the closest otherwise)
Kagawas (3 points for a correct guess, 2 points for whoever is the closest otherwise)

Kagawa's count in both the Kagawa section and the Boards section.

4,600 FIFA Points to whoever gets the most points.


TOTY 2
Icons 0
IF Walkouts 2
Wlakouts 20
IFS 7
Boards 113
Kagawa 5

[Gray Fox]

TOTY - 3
Icons - 0
IF Walkouts - 10
Walkouts - 15
IFs - 25
Boards - 60
Kagawas - 25


I've gone for 3 TOTY as you deserve it for all the work put in to get to this opening.

[Yevrah]

I don't have too many big packs (best I think are Rare Megas and Megas) so it really will be a test of how well the grind (and luck obviously) works.

Cleared the club of standard golds and am now opening the common upgrade packs from silvers on the web app.

EDIT: Cheers Fox. And fucking hell, I've got a duplicate after opening 5 of the three commons. :moop:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

TOTY - 0
Icons - 2
IF Walkouts - 4
Walkouts - 27
IFs - 32
Boards - 101
Kagawas - 20

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just came across the TOTY Mbappe.

Mbappe was already the player I struggle to defend against the most as the ball sticks to his lightning fast feet. The TOTY year was bonkers and it took me most of the match to really get inside the head of my opponent when he was attacking with him.

Lost 5-4 to the sweaty troll but really I was lucky to get 4.

[Yevrah]

I really can't wait to finish this, pac...buy and use him.

[Gray Fox]

I think most of your pulls and boards will come from the upgrade packs.

Are you focusing on one league or are you splitting between the 3?

[John]

TOTY - 1
Icons - 0
IF Walkouts - 6
Walkouts - 19
IFs - 38
Boards - 108
Kagawas - 12

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I really can't wait to finish this, pac...buy and use him.

The guy knew how to do some basic skills as well and he was so smooth in pulling them off.

He's probably the best player in the game with only the two big Ronaldo's up there with him.

[Gray Fox]

Funny you mention that Mahow, Huge Gorilla who if you don't know him, regularly makes the latter stages of these pro tournaments, reckons Mbappe is replacing R9 in teams.
Mbappe is about 2.7m cheaper and is better than everything except the 5* weak foot.

[Yevrah]

I think most of your pulls and boards will come from the upgrade packs.

Are you focusing on one league or are you splitting between the 3?

I've split the commons between gold upgrades and the Ligue 1 7.5k packs and currently have 10 EPL Premiums and 10 La Liga Premiums, with another 50 to build, so I think I'll do 40 La Liga and 10 Prem.

I'll whack a list up of what I have before opening when I'm done.

[Trancemeister]

Bah, done 10 or some upgrades today. David Luiz at best.

[Yevrah]

Bah, done 10 or some upgrades today. David Luiz at best.

I've reconciled myself to the fact that going into this I might get absolutely nothing. It'll probably be easier that way.

[Gray Fox]

The one to look out for is that 87 Asenjo item. If you don't pack a TOTS that card is a very handy one to send into some SBCs. 84 Arthur is very handy too.

[Yevrah]

Yeah, I've kept any card I had 83 or above, so will be looking to complete some of the SBC's as we go through with anything I get.

I probably wouldn't do Ibra otherwise, but on that basis I'm happy to.

[Gray Fox]

I'd also suggest picking out an Icon. Say Shevchenko for example. I'd imagine you'd be able to chalk off a fair few of his SBCs on the fly too. More packs back and more players too.

[Yevrah]

Cheeky I know, but does anyone fancy assigning a coin value to each of these:

Web app descriptions.

Gold Pack
Premium Gold Pack
Jumbo Gold Pack
Premium Gold Jumbo
Gold Players Pack
Gold Players Premium
Prime Gold Players
Jumbo Premium Gold Players
Small Gold Players
Small Prime Gold Players
Small Rare Gold Players
Rare Gold Pack
Rare Player Pack
Mega Pack
Rare Mega Pack
Two Rare Gold Players Pack
Electrum Players Pack
Premium Electrum Players
Prime Electrum Players
Small Prime Electrum Players
Small Rare Electrum Players
Mixed Players
Preumium Mixed Players
Prime Mixed Players
Rare Mixed Players
PL Premium Gold
Ligue 1 Premium Gold
PL Premium Players
La Liga Premium Players
Premium Gold Jumbo

[Yevrah]

Right, counted the packs on the web app and have 165, which matches the number in game.

Just need to have a nosey round the current SBC's to see if I can do any of the SBC's with what I have to get a worthwhile pack (World Class Icon segments etc.) then bash through converting the rare golds I have to 25k packs and we're on.

[The Merse]

Just played another cross spammer, there seem to be a few doing it now Zlatan is out. He had Scream Fellaini and Zlatan being crossed to by POTM Hazard and RTTF Costa and it was fucking terrifying.

4-2-3-1 is beating me hands down, all the time. The two CDM's just make it so difficult to try and play an attacking passing game. I hate that there's youtube and a pro scene that creates these kinds of solidity-first meta's every fucking year.

I also hate that I'm fucking useless at having a gameplan or putting in enough thought to execute any of those metas myself. I think I miss the pre-17 pure pace whoring and overloading metas.

[Yevrah]

I'm definitely not a fan of the pace nerf this year, that's for sure. If you're through on goal with a player who can dribble and is reasonably quick you shouldn't be able to be caught by a defender.

[Yevrah]

6:00 start now gents.

[Boom-Boom-18]

Cheeky I know, but does anyone fancy assigning a coin value to each of these:

Web app descriptions.

Gold Pack - 5000
Premium Gold Pack - 7500
Jumbo Gold Pack - 10000
Premium Gold Jumbo - 15000
Gold Players Pack - 12500
Gold Players Premium - 25000
Prime Gold Players - 45000
Jumbo Premium Gold Players - 50000
Small Gold Players - Free
Small Prime Gold Players - Free
Small Rare Gold Players - Free
Rare Gold Pack - 25000
Rare Player Pack - 50000
Mega Pack - 35000
Rare Mega Pack - 55000
Two Rare Gold Players Pack - Free
Electrum Players Pack - Free
Premium Electrum Players - 12500
Prime Electrum Players - 20000
Small Prime Electrum Players - Free
Small Rare Electrum Players - Free
Mixed Players - Free
Premium Mixed Players - Free
Prime Mixed Players - Free
Rare Mixed Players - Free
PL Premium Gold - Free
Ligue 1 Premium Gold - Free
PL Premium Players - Free
La Liga Premium Players - Free
Premium Gold Jumbo - 15000

Added.

[Yevrah]

Cheers Boom. 198 packs now. Had more UCL cards than I thought, so I won't be doing those so will need to buy a few players to hit the 200.

[Raoul Duke]

Will alternate between YevFest and the Chelsea game :cool:

TOTY - 1
Icons - 1
IF Walkouts - 7
Walkouts - 19
IFs - 23
Boards - 88
Kagawas - 12

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Some bloke on Reddit has saved all of his packs generated in FIFA 19 to date for a TOTY Mega opening.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FIFA/comments/adzhkg/realistic_expectation_from_25_million_coins_worth/

Over 1,000 packs and 25m coins worth.

It took me hours to open 100, so it'll be days for him to get through them. Days.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FIFA/comments/af2wb7/update_realistic_expectation_from_25_million/

He packed TOTY KDB and has been able to do some SBC's.

Still has over 780 packs left.

[Gray Fox]

There's something to be said for this though. I mean I've grinded the weekend league along the way but the the only reason I have the team that I do is down to some massive pack luck. Since then I've probably lost several 100k trying out all the players on the game.

Someone who saved all their valuable packs for doing exactly this is probably well set to have just as good a team as mine if not better.

[Danny]

Been rising the club, outside playing what was probably the sweatiest game I have played all year in rivals, this morning. Highlights have been:

Ederson
Ozil
Matic
Mahrez x 2
Lacazette x 2

Almost rinsed everything below 82.

[Yevrah]

https://i.postimg.cc/dV1C1Bh6/Packs.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Added in a value against some of the packs where an equivalent/fair estimate could be sought.

[Yevrah]

There's something to be said for this though. I mean I've grinded the weekend league along the way but the the only reason I have the team that I do is down to some massive pack luck. Since then I've probably lost several 100k trying out all the players on the game.

Someone who saved all their valuable packs for doing exactly this is probably well set to have just as good a team as mine if not better.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but is it fair to say that this level of packs have never been saved/grinded for before? Pretty sure it'll be even more common next year, which will do interesting things to the market.

[Danny]

Two more Lacazettes. My will to do this is officially dead :lol:

[Yevrah]

https://i.postimg.cc/7YQ3Sd8d/Comp.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

I'll disallow myself if I win and obviously with those predictions I hope I don't.

Anyone else want in you've got until 17:50 then we're on from 6.

[Yevrah]

Nepenthez has only gone and packed a(nother) TOTY doing the icon crafting video.

I swear their accounts are boosted.

[The Merse]

https://i.postimg.cc/7YQ3Sd8d/Comp.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

I'll disallow myself if I win and obviously with those predictions I hope I don't.

Anyone else want in you've got 20 until 17:50 then we're on.

May I suggest 18:15... There's likely to be new content at 18:00 :D

[Yevrah]

Ok, let's do 18:15.

Did you want in Merse?

[The Merse]

May I suggest 18:15... There's likely to be new content at 18:00 :D

Also my predictions -
TOTY - 0
Icons - 1
IF Walkouts - 2
Walkouts - 15
IF - 20
Boards - 70
Kagawas - 10

[The Merse]

Ok, let's do 18:15.

Did you want in Merse?

I'll be there for sure.

[Gray Fox]

The sheer amount of packs opened says you'll get one or two eventually, but yeah it's a hell of a grind.

Funnily enough I watched a guy on Friday who has 3 million worth to open. He went La Liga only and ended up with Varane, Marcelo and Modric. He was lazily discarding all duplicates too.


Now I've seen what packs you have Yevrah can I rein my Kagawa guess back down to 10?

[Yevrah]

No probs gents. Any other changes in by 6 and I'll put them through.

[Danny]

TOTY - 2
Icons - 0
IF Walkouts - 4
Walkouts - 22
IFs - 15
Boards - 45
Kagawas - 12

Go on then.

Ill be there too

[The Merse]

What channel do I search for on Mixer Yevrah?

[Gray Fox]

He'll post a link shortly.

Genuinely hoping for multiples here.

[The Merse]

Actually, add a TOTY from me, I can't fucking predict zero.

[Yevrah]

Chemical Locust.

I'll whack a link up when I'm live.

[The Merse]

He'll post a link shortly.

Genuinely hoping for multiples here.

I was hoping to find it on Mixer on the xbox - will the link give me what I need to pull it up on there?

Edit - ah, cheers

[Yevrah]

Right, final final time of 18:30.

My vape has broken and there's no way I can do this without nicotine. Off to the shops to get some disposable ones.

[Danny]

Found more players on my TM. IF Arnautovic. Will be nice to try or using the VVD SBC

[Gray Fox]

Bale just dropped.

[The Merse]

Pull it back to a 17-13 finish. Another tough one - 2019 is proving difficult, but I'm happy with that considering it looked like it was going to be my first negative finish in WL at one point.

Beginning with Campbell and Casillas was definitely a mistake. Adding the TOTY's was worthwhile, and the tactics update as of late last night really helped too - I think I'll stay with this set up. Moving players with the dynamics tactics in game had led me to tinker so much that my defensive and attacking tactics were almost the same. Having a true graduation from a more aggressive Attacking set up to a really balanced Balanced and then to a tighter defensive is somewhat unsurprisingly - a lot more effective and flexible, though it means swapping players around before kick off like it's Fifa 18.

[Danny]

Jesus that bale

9 TOTW and an 88 rated team for the final one.

[Gray Fox]

I fear that Bale is going to send the price of Van Dijk through the roof with the 2 of them needing lots of TOTW items.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just got soggy biscuits from an upgrade. Not bad.

[The Merse]

Bale just dropped.

Oof. Not sure if I should do this or not. Looks tasty AF, but pricey.

[Danny]

I fear that Bale is going to send the price of Van Dijk through the roof with the 2 of them needing lots of TOTW items.

Probably.

I have done two stages, guess I will hold on to progress further through it. Especially as I am running out players to upgrade.

[Gray Fox]

Okay so Bale is more expensive than Best...

[Yevrah]

Right, we're on.

https://mixer.com/Chemical_Locust

I'll start when we get a few in.

[Yevrah]

Is the mic working?

[Danny]

I am in, signed in and it created an account for me. TriedHickory912. The fuck

[Trancemeister]

Can't seem to get the stream to work. On Firefox just loading. On Chrome no video.

[Danny]

Working for me on Chrome no problem, very weird.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

People who let the timers go all the way down should be shot.

[Gray Fox]

Comparable to those who list a lower rated TOTW card for the same price as the higher rated ones in the hope someone buys accidentally.

[Danny]

Comparable to those who list a lower rated TOTW card for the same price as the higher rated ones in the hope someone buys accidentally.

I fell for that a couple of week ago. So I just did it right back.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I bought an 81 Kums just the other day :(

[Raoul Duke]

Kums in your face

[Danny]

https://www.futbin.com/19/squad/4051970

Current side. Looking to try POTM VVD over RTTF Sanchez as the latter is tradeable.

Rest of the club includes


Tradeable:
RTTF Telles
RTTF Lingard
IF Sterling (Investment that fucked me for 80k when his POTM didnt need it so trying him in the seconds)
IF Sigurdsson


Untradeable:
UCL Sane
UCL Fabinho
Scream Koke
POTM Lucas
FUTMAS Valencia
FUTSWAP Kerma

Shit that doesnt get near the team:

RTTF Felipe Luis
IF Arthur
RTTF Tagliafico
OTW Lemar (x4)
OTW Smolov
OTW Sane
OTW Mariano
OTW Golovin
OTW Dembele

FB Casilias (UT)
IF Parejo (UT)
IF Arnatuovic (UT packed today)
UCL Bernado

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Someone quits in a match after a minute and I'm not awarded a win? What fucking shit.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Someone tried it again but I scored before his pause was activated. A quick win that time.

[Raoul Duke]

https://www.futbin.com/19/squad/4051970

Why Van Aanholt at LB? Surely someone like Robertson would be a big upgrade?

Team is bonkers overall though.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

10-6 right now which is great.

My defence is rock solid now, I've won 2 matches 1-0 where I was clearly worse. Last week I'd have lost those 2 no doubt.

[Trancemeister]

Is David Silva worth doing? It's not like I'm gonna pull a TOTY anyway so.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Ibra done using untradeables.

Will make for a nice bench option.

[Danny]

Why Van Aanholt at LB? Surely someone like Robertson would be a big upgrade?

Team is bonkers overall though.

He was dirt cheap compared to Robertson who had gone up massively. Here is them compared on the chem styles I was running

https://www.futbin.com/19/compare/17252/17502?chem=anchor,backbone&pchem=10,10&schem=100,100

PVA is quicker and offers more going forward. Defending is pretty fair except for heading which PVA makes up in his incredible jumping. I havent noticed much of a difference to be honest.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Arthur can fuck right off.

[Gray Fox]

Done the necessary shuffle of Courtois and Sandro for De Gea and Marcelo. I'm going to complete the loan Virgil and likely play him for 20 games this weekend to see if hes worth it.
I love his standard gold card and this POTM is +5 on everything. Hopefully those 20 games get me the 14 wins I want/need. I'll judge him based off that and if he's good I'll sell Neymar and do the SBC.
I'd bloody well love his TOTY card but I can't afford him for at least a few weeks and these cards are going to rise in price after they go out of packs.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Still no TOTY from packs but I got an IF Cathorla who will be useful.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Would have preferred Modric but fuck it:

https://i.imgur.com/8Sp2f9c.jpg

Premium La Liga packs coming up BIG.

Going to sell Desailly and I will have to bring in Lloris and I might need to change Aurier to give VVD full chem.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Nope, I need to replace De Gea with Van Der Sar and then everything is solid.

[Boom-Boom-18]

Wow, nice one. How many packs did you open?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

No fucking clue.

All I know is that I started on over 1.2k players and now I have about 115 in my club.

Probably not as much as Yev is going through but it can't be too much less.

[Danny]

https://www.futbin.com/19/squad/4051970

I really want to have a go with Zlatan in for Bobby. I can get him in there on 8 chem.

https://www.futbin.com/19/compare/17618/17447?chem=hunter,hawk&pchem=10,10&schem=100,100

[Boom-Boom-18]

How do you get him in there on 8 chem? I have a similar looking team and I would really like to get Ibra in there.

I think I would be happy with 8 chem.

[Danny]

Start like this. Manager and loyalty get him to 8

https://www.futbin.com/19/squad/4064108

I built a questionable team (incluing loans for Ronalo and TOTY Neymar) to do the challenge to get his loan. Will be trying that later to see.

[Boom-Boom-18]

Start like this. Manager and loyalty get him to 8

https://www.futbin.com/19/squad/4064108

I built a questionable team (incluing loans for Ronalo and TOTY Neymar) to do the challenge to get his loan. Will be trying that later to see.

Tempting. I can do the same as below,

https://www.futbin.com/19/squad-builder/4059093/copy

[Boom-Boom-18]

What teams do you need players from to complete his loan challenge?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://i.imgur.com/y7q9iQ4.jpg

Glorious.

Funnily enough baby VDS has the most IGS of all 3 of his cards and the second most card stats.

I also have about 750k left after selling Desailly and buying VDS so I'm going to rip some promo packs whenever special ones drop.

[Danny]

What teams do you need players from to complete his loan challenge?

Malmo, Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, Mlian, PSG, Man Utd and LA Galaxy

2 goals so far in his first game. Weak SB opposition though.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

The Bale requirements and rewards :harold:

[Danny]

Yeah that is embarrassing.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Yeah that is embarrassing.

The packs are absolute dogshit.

Not getting an ultimate pack for the 88 rated squad is criminal.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

10 50k packs:

Pack 1: Ederson
Pack 2: Javi Martinez
Pack 3: Pique & Pjanic
Pack 4: Verratti
Pack 5: IF Lopez
Pack 6: Kasper Schmeichel
Pack 7: Thiago
Pack 8: Christensen, lol
Pack 9: Mandanda
Pack 10: Mane

Cracking way to piss 500k away.

[Trancemeister]

IF Deeney. I thought for sure it was gonna be Eriksen :moop:

[Trancemeister]

Did Van Dijk POTM sbc. Spent about 200k the rest I already had. Got Griezmann & Immobile in packs and two shit IFs.

[Yevrah]

I had to stop at 7am this morning, four hundred and thirty five packs in and still not finished.

Back on now.

https://mixer.com/Chemical_Locust

[Danny]

I had it on my laptop until about midnight my time. Gave up on the PS at that point and went to bed.

[Gray Fox]

Stayed up far later than I should have. So many walkouts I thought were going to be the one.

[Yevrah]

And we're done! Sort of...

So I started at 6:30pm last night, with 207 packs. This allowed me to cycle through and build a hell of lot more than I ever imagined, finishing on 479 opened packs at 14:00 today, having had 4 hours kip between 7 and 11.

Here are the packs:

https://i.postimg.cc/Y0dMTPz4/Packs.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

So essentially 6.5m+ coins worth.

And what we pulled:

https://i.postimg.cc/mgvBxCCS/Packed.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

The IF Walkouts were Asenjo and Arthur, with the Walkouts including Mertens (x3), Neuer, Sane, Casemiro, Navas (x2), Pique, Isco, Rakitic, Dybala and some other decent ones as well. But perhaps most importantly, at this stage of the game I didn't pack a useable card. No Pogba, no Suarez, no Hazard etc. Now you could say that's because of the players I already have are too good already, but Neuer and perhaps Sane aside, I don't think (m)any of the players I did pack would go into people's first teams now*. So you're essentially looking at a game with thousand upon thousands of players in it, with a couple of hundred (?) people actually want to use.

So do I regret it? I'd say on balance, no. I could have sold the players I put into the initial packs and I'd be sat here with TOTY Mbappe and Marcelo now, but with all the players packed what I did get to do was Raul. Obviously I had to put an icon - Rivaldo - into this which was nothing to with this process, but still, it's amazing how all of these players stack up and you can just hammer through them. If I'm willing to sacrifice some untradeable special cards, and I am, I'll also have Ballack later too. So that's why it's not really over yet as there are more packs to come as a result.

The competition

First off, it's fair to say that while people complain about pack weights being shit, there's still a huge amount of overestimation of what you're likely to pack. People were coming into the stream (particularly this morning) and seemed surprised that I hadn't packed a TOTY having opened that many packs. But if you think about it, let's assume all packs are equal (they're not, and it was staggering how shit some of the better packs I started with were) and that I packed one, my hit rate would have been 1/479 = 0.2%.

Now we know that the chances of packing a TOTY from an Ultimate pack are less than 1%, so the odds of me getting one even from 479 packs are still going to be shit, properly shit. That's just the way it is and EA are very clever with Lighting rounds and limiting the number of Ultimate packs you can open in a row as otherwise we'd have streamers sat there opening 200+ of the things and not getting one. That's 3 grand. Three thousand pounds, not to get a TOTY card that will be worthless in 6 months. Even if the odds are 0.99999% (lol), you'd still need to spend £1,500 to statistically expect to pack one.

But I digress.

https://i.postimg.cc/7PNmz4L1/Comp.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

If someone wants to have a check over that (as I'm on my feet now) feel free, but otherwise congratulations to Trance. If you want to PM me your email address I'll work out how to gift the 4,600 FIFA Points to you and may you pack a blue.

Other things

Streaming is odd. I've presented a bit for work and while I don't like that much, speaking in front of 200 people you can see is easier than 12 you can't. Eased into it over the night and had some great bants with a troll who asked me what I could offer over all the other streamers and why he should follow me. I mean, clearly nothing. He and 2 others felt the ban hammer.

On a similar note I've got new found respect for people that do this professionally. Sitting on my sofa for that long, trying to force yet another duplicate Malcom or William Carvalho into an SBC with a horseshit formation really grated at times and if I had to do all that again tonight and tomorrow I'd absolutely hate FIFA. Sure, people like Nepenthez, Castro etc. are no doubt sorted for life already as a result, but if you think of the shit load of people there must be who're hovering on the cusp of making a living, it's those poor bastards I really feel for, particularly when EA finally get properly called out on this racket. Spending £1,500 on a game that has a shelf life of 9 months should get you everything, not just a(n unclear how good) chance to pack a TOTY and that's before we get onto the gambling side of things.

People were genuinely staggered by my team, which is lopsided at best at the moment. Which brought home to me how many casuals there are that can't/don't want to put the time in therefore can't comprehend how someone could build a team that good. We in TTH live in a bit of a bubble in that regard. Which you may all be aware of, but whether you're me fucking around with this shit, or Merse and Fox hitting up WL most weekend, we're the exception.

Which leads on nicely to my next point, I play this game too much and I don't think that's healthy as I'm clearly addicted - I'm already thinking how I might do something bigger and better next year, which is nuts.

Oh and I did a bit of advertising for TTH with the 10-15 viewers and 21 followers, so expect a deluge of new members chaps.

Thanks for supporting it gents. It was, on the whole, a good laugh.




*People who have played the game for a decent (should that be insane?) amount of time.

[Yevrah]

Stayed up far later than I should have. So many walkouts I thought were going to be the one.

Indeed, total trooper there Fox. How you feeling today?

[Trancemeister]

:joy:

[Raoul Duke]

Good stuff Yev. Heroic stuff (if, as you say somewhat mental). I dipped in and out of it a few times and it seemed a slog.

The numbers are mental when you think about it and there's so much bias/idiocy around what people think they can pack. The chances are obviously against you.

[The Merse]

And we're done! Sort of...

So I started at 6:30pm last night, with 207 packs. This allowed me to cycle through and build a hell of lot more than I ever imagined, finishing on 479 opened packs at 14:00 today, having had 4 hours kip between 7 and 11.


Jesus. I made it to 12.30ish, and could see there were a couple of hours in it, but that's quite some commitment.





Now we know that the chances of packing a TOTY from an Ultimate pack are less than 1%, so the odds of me getting one even from 479 packs are still going to be shit, properly shit. That's just the way it is and EA are very clever with Lighting rounds and limiting the number of Ultimate packs you can open in a row as otherwise we'd have streamers sat there opening 200+ of the things and not getting one. That's 3 grand. Three thousand pounds, not to get a TOTY card that will be worthless in 6 months. Even if the odds are 0.99999% (lol), you'd still need to spend £1,500 to statistically expect to pack one.



Spending £1,500 on a game that has a shelf life of 9 months should get you everything, not just a(n unclear how good) chance to pack a TOTY and that's before we get onto the gambling side of things.

Bang on, but... I'd also combine it with this...



People were genuinely staggered by my team, which is lopsided at best at the moment. Which brought home to me how many casuals there are that can't/don't want to put the time in therefore can't comprehend how someone could build a team that good. We in TTH live in a bit of a bubble in that regard. Which you may all be aware of, but whether you're me fucking around with this shit, or Merse and Fox hitting up WL most weekend, we're the exception.


I've thought about this before. There's clearly great disparity between the 'hardcore' - of which I think most of us fall into, and the 'casual'. I'd love to see these broken down in the way we'd break down the users of the platform I manage - cohorts divided by two-three factors around engagement. EA obviously have it, and use it to drive engagement and of course, sales. It's genuinely intriguing though. That microcosm you speak of - it's even bigger in the Reddit world. I often see posts proclaiming 'finally made it to the WL!' or 'My first ever weekend league and I got Gold 3!'. They're few and far between though - Reddit is by and large a closed shop of Gold-Elite player discussion, I'd say this is too, only some are more casual in their entry and priorities (aka only me and Fox are mental enough to aim for 20+ games a weekend). As such, spending time watching the Nep's of this world, talking Fifa in places like this and reddit... It normalises that 'hardcore' behaviour - and almost instills an ethos that it can't possibly be enjoyable any other way.

Anyway, on to the relevance of pack weight.
The size of the hardcore community brings with it some really difficult pricing decisions for EA.

On one hand, they likely open >10 x the value of packs of a casual, minimum.
They're also very vocal and very visible.

Give them all top players on demand and you're going to see the market crash, everyone able to afford competitive teams as a result, even casuals, and both microtransaction sales and overall engagement will be impacted to some degree or other. The whole cult of pack opening is likely to be lost entirely.

On the other hand, be more conservative and you risk the value of your product to the consumer becoming so low as to be undesirable altogether, and also to kill the aforementioned 'cult'. You'd also be consigning casuals to an even worser fate.

I think they've managed to avoid either extreme, but they are getting closer and closer to the latter, and need to tweak a bit.



Thanks for supporting it gents. It was, on the whole, a good laugh.


Pleasure, good work mate.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Anyone decent looking likely for the TOTW?

I'm at 11-6 right now and wondering if there's any point to push further.

[SincereTheRebel]

There is one online mode which tells you how many players are in each division. Is that normal seasons?

[Gray Fox]

On a similar note I've got new found respect for people that do this professionally. Sitting on my sofa for that long, trying to force yet another duplicate Malcom or William Carvalho into an SBC with a horseshit formation really grated at times and if I had to do all that again tonight and tomorrow I'd absolutely hate FIFA. Sure, people like Nepenthez, Castro etc. are no doubt sorted for life already as a result, but if you think of the shit load of people there must be who're hovering on the cusp of making a living, it's those poor bastards I really feel for, particularly when EA finally get properly called out on this racket. Spending £1,500 on a game that has a shelf life of 9 months should get you everything, not just a(n unclear how good) chance to pack a TOTY and that's before we get onto the gambling side of things.

People were genuinely staggered by my team, which is lopsided at best at the moment. Which brought home to me how many casuals there are that can't/don't want to put the time in therefore can't comprehend how someone could build a team that good. We in TTH live in a bit of a bubble in that regard. Which you may all be aware of, but whether you're me fucking around with this shit, or Merse and Fox hitting up WL most weekend, we're the exception.

Which leads on nicely to my next point, I play this game too much and I don't think that's healthy as I'm clearly addicted - I'm already thinking how I might do something bigger and better next year, which is nuts.

Parts of that first paragraph as well as the last one is why the EU was getting on their case about the odds of things. There is a genuine addiction to seeing those top cards come out and you end up getting into that "just one more pack" phase, or worse you get the people who start thinking "Well, I've seen Nepenthez get 3 blue already so I'll whack £20 on."
The truth is they're only showing you the good times, not as you said, the 12 hours he spends locked in his office or at his xbox constantly resubmitting these things and not seeing any friends or family. The top guys are handsomely paid for it, but if you go on Twitch you'll see dozens and dozens of guys streaming who have maybe 50-100 viewers. It's not enough to make your living from, but enough to make you think you can soon.

So you sink your money into it hoping it pays of later down the line. It's crazy and this is why I will never, ever spend any money beyond the purchase cost. I mean if you know him, Bateson87 has spent 600,000 FIFA points on this and is yet to pack a TOTY card. That's 4 grand on a game you'll be starting new again in September.

As for the team thing I get it. This is the first year I've had proper pack luck and only the 2nd year I've played the weekend league seriously. The last one saw me regularly playing the full 40 games per weekend and then getting shat on in the rewards.
I'd still be that guy now if my luck was different and it's why I took last year mostly off. It's not healthy to keep going with no reward.

The other thing this year has taught me is, what it's like to have a team ahead of the curve. Most peoples teams will improve slowly or steadily through the year in what would look on a graph like a curved incline. That's because most of the people who play this are only playing what's in front of them. Like we all know here there's potentially another Icon or Flashback card tonight, or X promo coming in a few weeks(lunar new year?) and so sink their coins in as EA would like and move exactly at the speed EA wants.
They want you sat looking at these pros teams thinking how much you want Gullit for example. In reality Gullit himself does and will for the length of the game, cost more than most people will have in their clubs in the whole year.

The casual guy isn't posting about his club on a forum or anything. I mean the reason we're all here is because once upon a time we all played FM a bit too much.

That being said this is the first year I've received hate messages because of my team. Some accusing me of using my credit card to build the team is actually a bit satisfying. I'm quite proud of what I've got from this year, without spending a penny, even if it's been in part down to some luck.


Indeed, total trooper there Fox. How you feeling today?

Tired and not looking forward to getting requalified :D

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Oh and here was TOTY VVD's first goal, channelling his inner Zlatan:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlxBdeB332A

[Yevrah]

That bloked who kept 1,000+ packs still has more than 999 in the store.

He's not left himself anywhere near enough time to finish it without just Bateson'ing the shit out of it.

[igor_balis]

Just completed the weekend league thing for the first time. Considering how shit i am and that I've been unable to get out of div 6 in the weekday stuff I'm pretty chuffed with how it went.

Was doing awfully this morning and getting dead frustrated, went for a shower, had a fag, and went into my last two games on 12-16. Managed to somehow win them both, including 8-5 after extra time in game 30 to scrape into Gold 3. Bostin.

[Yevrah]

Great stuff Igor.

[The Merse]

That bloked who kept 1,000+ packs still has more than 999 in the store.

He's not left himself anywhere near enough time to finish it without just Bateson'ing the shit out of it.

I avoid too many untradeables for this reason. CBA with cycling them after each pack.

[The Merse]

Just completed the weekend league thing for the first time. Considering how shit i am and that I've been unable to get out of div 6 in the weekday stuff I'm pretty chuffed with how it went.

Was doing awfully this morning and getting dead frustrated, went for a shower, had a fag, and went into my last two games on 12-16. Managed to somehow win them both, including 8-5 after extra time in game 30 to scrape into Gold 3. Bostin.

Good result mate. Well played! Hope you land something usable on Thursday.

[Yevrah]

I haven't got enough players to get Ballack (without spending some of my coins) and I'm 100% getting TOTY Mbappe today, and can't do Ballack and Mbappe without relying on pack luck. If opening 479 packs has taught me anything...

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Ballack's SBC expires tomorrow.

[Yevrah]

Yep, but the bits of it I have done I've done through all the shit I accumulated during the pack opening, so it's no biggie.

I've basically got his 86, 87 and 88 to do, which is 800k's worth and while I can get that down, I don't think he'll be good enough to be worth replacing Keane with if it means I can't get Mbappe.

[Trancemeister]

Pulled 87 Inzaghi from a gold player pack from one of the new TOTY sbcs :D

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Nice.

[Danny]

Anyone decent looking likely for the TOTW?

I'm at 11-6 right now and wondering if there's any point to push further.

Has to be De Gea but considering you literally just replaced him might not be of interest

[Gray Fox]

Played through some 12 games now and find myself 11-1. I should be 12-0. I was 2-0 up in the loss and was defending well. I did everything right and I blocked 3 shots from the D, only to have the ball deflect to a guy inside the box open to slot past De Gea.

Raul has now hit 100 games for the club and did so with exactly 100 goals and 57 assists. Quality. Ballack who I really like is now coming in to help out with a few goals too which I really needed. In the 12 games he got 6 goals.

The TOTY Ramos and POTM VVD defence is stupidly good. Both are bullies and the former has 89 dribbling now, which helps massively when playing constant pressure wankers. I've even started moving up the pitch with him and he's slotted 2 through balls for assists as well.

POTM VVD feels lighter than his gold card and noticeably faster and stronger. I'll be completing this SBC at some point tonight.

I'll have to sell Neymar to afford it, but given he's down to 500k that'd be 3 weeks or so of rewards to get him back. I have Willians 86 to fill in whilst he's gone, but if I do regain something out of the packs, it'll go on Felipe Andersons 86 card.

I may play up to 14 wins later for the sake of coins, but I can't see me wanting to get to 17. May try and whack up a stream, but it'll probably late and I only have 1 monitor so it may not be the best.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I'm 4-0 since I packed Varane.

He's absolutely magnificent, especially when paired with VVD.

Also, I love countering teams:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5B4NmPosyE

I'm seriously hard to break down now, my defence is solid as fuck (and can cover through balls with the speed of Varane) and having Keane and Kondogbia come back on defence really plugs up the middle for finesse shots.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

14-6.

Pretty good going seeing as it's only my second WL this year.

Think I'll take a bit of a break and then try for 17 as I do like those rare mega packs.

[Yevrah]

So I fell asleep before the Lightning round and now I don't actually have enough for Mbappe. :D

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I've just spotted that my club value has gone from around 148m to 28m since the TOTY dropped.

[Yevrah]

Gents,

Will these points work outside of the UK?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/FIFA-19-Ultimate-Team-Download/dp/B07F18QVLP/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_367_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=BVFEFX4D27BWW5245QM5

I ask because it says this on the listing:


Currently, this item is available only to customers located in the United Kingdom.

And I don't want to get Trance points that won't work.

[Yevrah]

I've just spotted that my club value has gone from around 148m to 28m since the TOTY dropped.

I've got absolutely no idea how that's calculated. Mine's always been ludicrously high, even when I had a club of starter players and a shitload of bronzes.

[thommo]

I'm finally going to get round to doing my own opening this evening. Still churning through some of these upgrades, only 300 odd players left to go through, and I have 60 packs ready to go. I don't expect a TOTY but something usable would be lovely.

[Yevrah]

Streaming Thommo? I'd love to see someone open one even if I couldn't.

[Trancemeister]

Gents,

Will these points work outside of the UK?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/FIFA-19-Ultimate-Team-Download/dp/B07F18QVLP/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_367_t_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=BVFEFX4D27BWW5245QM5

I ask because it says this on the listing:



And I don't want to get Trance points that won't work.

Unfortunatly not looking good for me.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Varane loses his first game :(

Went 2-0 down early as the guy was playing really high tempo pressure stuff and I couldn't deal with it.

I then managed to understand what he was doing and Crespo put in a Raul cross. From there I was the better man but he scored this:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APEpa8uhTIY

Proper free kick and I couldn't get a goal until injury time for a 3-2 loss :(

6 games 1 loss since Varane came in.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbUVH5y8qIc

Fucking Nep packed a 99 Messi. Tradeable too.

[Boom-Boom-18]

And we're done! Sort of...

So I started at 6:30pm last night, with 207 packs. This allowed me to cycle through and build a hell of lot more than I ever imagined, finishing on 479 opened packs at 14:00 today, having had 4 hours kip between 7 and 11.

Here are the packs:

https://i.postimg.cc/Y0dMTPz4/Packs.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

So essentially 6.5m+ coins worth.

And what we pulled:

https://i.postimg.cc/mgvBxCCS/Packed.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

The IF Walkouts were Asenjo and Arthur, with the Walkouts including Mertens (x3), Neuer, Sane, Casemiro, Navas (x2), Pique, Isco, Rakitic, Dybala and some other decent ones as well. But perhaps most importantly, at this stage of the game I didn't pack a useable card. No Pogba, no Suarez, no Hazard etc. Now you could say that's because of the players I already have are too good already, but Neuer and perhaps Sane aside, I don't think (m)any of the players I did pack would go into people's first teams now*. So you're essentially looking at a game with thousand upon thousands of players in it, with a couple of hundred (?) people actually want to use.

So do I regret it? I'd say on balance, no. I could have sold the players I put into the initial packs and I'd be sat here with TOTY Mbappe and Marcelo now, but with all the players packed what I did get to do was Raul. Obviously I had to put an icon - Rivaldo - into this which was nothing to with this process, but still, it's amazing how all of these players stack up and you can just hammer through them. If I'm willing to sacrifice some untradeable special cards, and I am, I'll also have Ballack later too. So that's why it's not really over yet as there are more packs to come as a result.

The competition

First off, it's fair to say that while people complain about pack weights being shit, there's still a huge amount of overestimation of what you're likely to pack. People were coming into the stream (particularly this morning) and seemed surprised that I hadn't packed a TOTY having opened that many packs. But if you think about it, let's assume all packs are equal (they're not, and it was staggering how shit some of the better packs I started with were) and that I packed one, my hit rate would have been 1/479 = 0.2%.

Now we know that the chances of packing a TOTY from an Ultimate pack are less than 1%, so the odds of me getting one even from 479 packs are still going to be shit, properly shit. That's just the way it is and EA are very clever with Lighting rounds and limiting the number of Ultimate packs you can open in a row as otherwise we'd have streamers sat there opening 200+ of the things and not getting one. That's 3 grand. Three thousand pounds, not to get a TOTY card that will be worthless in 6 months. Even if the odds are 0.99999% (lol), you'd still need to spend £1,500 to statistically expect to pack one.

But I digress.

https://i.postimg.cc/7PNmz4L1/Comp.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

If someone wants to have a check over that (as I'm on my feet now) feel free, but otherwise congratulations to Trance. If you want to PM me your email address I'll work out how to gift the 4,600 FIFA Points to you and may you pack a blue.

Other things

Streaming is odd. I've presented a bit for work and while I don't like that much, speaking in front of 200 people you can see is easier than 12 you can't. Eased into it over the night and had some great bants with a troll who asked me what I could offer over all the other streamers and why he should follow me. I mean, clearly nothing. He and 2 others felt the ban hammer.

On a similar note I've got new found respect for people that do this professionally. Sitting on my sofa for that long, trying to force yet another duplicate Malcom or William Carvalho into an SBC with a horseshit formation really grated at times and if I had to do all that again tonight and tomorrow I'd absolutely hate FIFA. Sure, people like Nepenthez, Castro etc. are no doubt sorted for life already as a result, but if you think of the shit load of people there must be who're hovering on the cusp of making a living, it's those poor bastards I really feel for, particularly when EA finally get properly called out on this racket. Spending £1,500 on a game that has a shelf life of 9 months should get you everything, not just a(n unclear how good) chance to pack a TOTY and that's before we get onto the gambling side of things.

People were genuinely staggered by my team, which is lopsided at best at the moment. Which brought home to me how many casuals there are that can't/don't want to put the time in therefore can't comprehend how someone could build a team that good. We in TTH live in a bit of a bubble in that regard. Which you may all be aware of, but whether you're me fucking around with this shit, or Merse and Fox hitting up WL most weekend, we're the exception.

Which leads on nicely to my next point, I play this game too much and I don't think that's healthy as I'm clearly addicted - I'm already thinking how I might do something bigger and better next year, which is nuts.

Oh and I did a bit of advertising for TTH with the 10-15 viewers and 21 followers, so expect a deluge of new members chaps.

Thanks for supporting it gents. It was, on the whole, a good laugh.




*People who have played the game for a decent (should that be insane?) amount of time.

Great stuff Yev, very interesting to watch and read. I would have expected much more back from the packs.

I think it's easier than ever for casuals to build a 'decent team'. If someone was to play rivals / weekend league they could save up for both Aguero and Aubameyang in two weeks, last year I wasn't able to pick up those sort of players until February / March when I pulled IF Son.

[Boom-Boom-18]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbUVH5y8qIc

Fucking Nep packed a 99 Messi. Tradeable too.

87 IF + 88 Hugo Lloris in the same pack. Unreal.

[Danny]

Will these points work outside of the UK?.

I doubt it. Paypal?

[Danny]

His team containing 9 TOTY ffs.

[Yevrah]

I would have expected much more back from the packs.

Cheers Boom.

Why is that though? Not having a go, it's just a genuine puzzler to me this one. We all suspected the pack weight was crap last year, EA have actually told us it is this year and yet people (not just yourself) expect me to have packed more.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

His team containing 9 TOTY ffs.

And he's thinking of buying Ronaldo too.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I have now lost 3 in a row :moop:

15-9 right now.

[Yevrah]

https://i.postimg.cc/ncyKTGhY/13-01-2019-21-49-11-tgj3mwhs.jpg (https://postimg.cc/PPM85ZZP)

:eyemouth:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

You must have been getting twitchy as fuck that you were going to run out of cash.

[Yevrah]

I fucked it really as I could have had him for 500k cheaper earlier in the week.

Mental note to self that TOTY players are at their cheapest on the first day or so of the whole team being in packs.

And the grind is on again. :drool:

EDIT: Although I do have a fair bit in the club now.

[Yevrah]

Haven't used Mbappe yet, but two games on SB Legendary and 5 goals with Raul.

That was only on basic chem as well, when I get a sniper on that bad boy. :drool:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

The more I use him the more I love him.

I feel like I can score anywhere in the opposition half with Raul, his left foot finesse shots are batshit.

[Trancemeister]

So thanks to Yevrah

2 Rare jumbo player packs

Pack 1
RAbiot

Pack 2
IF Deeney, De Vrij, Di Maria, Jorginho (for like the 10000th time).

Well it wasn't meant to be I suppose.

[Yevrah]

I packed Jorginho a million times last night as well.

[Gray Fox]

The PSG players should be selling for a fair whack right now.

[Yevrah]

Yeah, I need to have a good look through to take advantage. I think I've got Ibra in there somewhere too.

[The Merse]

So I fell asleep before the Lightning round and now I don't actually have enough for Mbappe. :D

Fuck man. He’s gone up 300k. That’s not good news for my mission to make him the last piece of the pre-TOTS puzzle.

[Gray Fox]

They're going to go up higher out of packs too. Hopefully not too much.

[The Merse]

So thanks to Yevrah

2 Rare jumbo player packs

Pack 1
RAbiot

Pack 2
IF Deeney, De Vrij, Di Maria, Jorginho (for like the 10000th time).

Well it wasn't meant to be I suppose.


Where are the jumbo premiums from? Love those.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

The store with his 4600 points from Yev.

[thommo]

Streaming Thommo? I'd love to see someone open one even if I couldn't.

I might give it a go. I'm not too attentive though as I'll have the NFL on in the background so who knows how it will go. Will update with a link if/when I decide on it.

[thommo]

73 to do, not sure how much recycling I'm going to be doing as that solely depends on time.

https://mixer.com/Silent_Hawkk

[Yevrah]

So I put Ibrahimovic in the team on 8 chem (basic style) and fuck me, he's incredible. SB again, but 5 goals in 2 games. He just fucking leathers the ball into the net. Left foot, right foot, headers, it's all there.

If you can afford him, even if you can't get him in the team yet, I'd thoroughly recommend doing him.

His stamina isn't an issue either. Presumably down to the Low defensive workrates.

[Yevrah]

Tale of the tape so far:

TOTY Mbappe - 4 games, 4 goals, 5 assists.
Flashback Zlatan - 2 games, 5 goals, 2 assists.
Prime Raul - 6 games, 9 goals, 2 assists.

This is going to sound nuts, but so far I prefer both Zlatan and Raul to TOTY Mbappe. He's obviously lethal when he gets a chance, but I think it's his dribbling style that I don't get on that well with, the ball is too far in front of him whereas with the other two it just sticks to their feet.

A bit of a dilemma here now.

[Gray Fox]

Stick with him, wait for the price to rise out of packs before selling back, if you do.

Just done POTM VVD. Got Handanovic and a few 84s from the packs. I'll sell those on, but I put everything else into EPL upgrades. Got 2 walkouts from my packs and got bloody Ozil and Azpilacueta.

[Yevrah]

Yeah, I'll sit on him for a bit as 4 games is obviously too early to tell.

Trying now to work out how I get Raul, De Bruyne, Mbappe and Zlatan and Keane into the same team.

[The Merse]

Chem wise or in-game?

[Yevrah]

Chem wise.

[Yevrah]

Obviously I can do this.

https://i.postimg.cc/YC0dnKTc/1st-Team.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

But I can't work out a way to get both Zlatan and KDB on 10 chem.

It's also quite lopsided in game, but I'm less bothered about that.

[Danny]

Zlatan on 10 is pretty much a no go. You can fix KDB with this:

4-1-2-1-2

Courtois
Lala
Varane
Silva
Alves
CDM Keane
RM Mbappe
LM Sterling
CAM Raul
ST Ibra
ST KDB

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Decided I can't be fucked playing anymore so finished on 15 wins.

Not too shabby at all considering I posted on Friday saying I wish I hadn't redeemed.

[thommo]

Finally finished opening up the packs. Took a lot longer than I anticipated, and I ended up opening 94 I think. I have the capability to do another 30 or so packs, and continue to recycle players, and after gutting the club to get all of these packs, I'm already up to around 700 players once again.

Overall, the results were ok:

4 IFs (2 walkouts) : Funes Mori, Santi Cazorla, Arthur, Deeney
2 regular walkouts : Buffon, Oblak
33 regular boards : Keita, Gundogan, Sule, Benzema, Aduriz, Mandanda (x2), Di Maria, Thauvin, Rabiot, Neto (x2), Reina (x2), Sterling, Kimpembe, Payet, Iago Aspas, Carvajal, Subasic, Glik, Lopes, Gerard Moreno (x3), Jonas, Nacho Fernandez, Lemar, Adan, Promes, Savic, Malcom, William Carvalho

Oblak came out in the last pack I opened (50k rare players pack), and for a split second I did believe it was a TOTY to sign off on the packs. Still a decent pull as he goes straight into my La Liga side as first choice GK.

[Gray Fox]

Up to 14-1 and that's where I stop. Only did it for the extra player pick and coins. From here I could push for more, but the rewards for 17 wins are completely unbalanced and stupid, so I'd end up pushing to 20, then if I got there with a decent record I'd be looking at 23 and so on.

I'm back to having about 110k in the club, but after playing a game with Willian now at LW I'm feeling the sacrifice. He feels terrible after having Neymar there. Luckily any LW from the Spanish league, or one who is Brazillian, German or Spanish can play there. That's at least given me the option of putting Sane in there. It's still not Neymar but he feels better than Willian.

I still want to do that Zlatan but I'll be quite coin limited and need a little bit of luck come Thursday. Either that or his price needs to come down. The other option is I take the Azpi and Ozil I packed before and maybe throw my 91 Ramos on. Should cut the cost of that SBC right down.

[Yevrah]

From 3:10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcuwCy06iAo

How does he know it's an 86 before the board comes up?

[Danny]

He calls it right as the lights on the ground show up. Pause at 3:16/3:17.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I know how it's a walkout but no idea how he knows it's an 86.

[Yevrah]

Oh I see. He's using 86 and Walkout interchangeably. i.e. he's packed a player over 86.

[Gray Fox]

I can do the 2nd part of Zlatan for free if I use Ramos and the other untradeable crap in the club. Thinking fuck it right now #DareToZlatan.

[five time]

Checking the stats on Futhead and I think 8 chem will be fine for Ibra.

Been ruined by him more than once this weekend so I'm very tempted.