FIFA 21: Featuring the FUT 100

[Yevrah]

The amount of squad battles to play for icon swap tokens. :sick:

[Yevrah]

Quite a brilliant move by EA to avoid getting loads from golden goal though, you have to hand it to them.

[Gray Fox]

There's the response to the community for what happened last time.

Flashback Robben for an 85 and 1 IF isn't too bad but they've only flashed him back to an 88. That 2* WF will forever be a problem.

Headliners Cunha in the new Friendly mode which requires you to have 7 leagues in your team to play.

[Yevrah]

Looks like you can double/triple up on some of the swaps though.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I want that HL Bruno.

[Raoul Duke]

Note there's a game limit on the One Nation games (still, winning 14 out of 60 shouldn't be too difficult)

[Yevrah]

I think they've fucked up there and put the limit in incorrectly.

Gotta love EA's incompetence at times.

[Gray Fox]

I was mistaken on the new mode. You just put 7 different leagues in your starting lineup and once you search for a game it will give the team 100 chemistry.

[Danny]

Looks like you can double/triple up on some of the swaps though.

100%

You can do it all the off line stuff with 2 teams.

11 First owner Liga Nos Silvers
11 French UCL players

[Gray Fox]

Cunha is done already. That mode really is nuts, but you can tell people don't quite properly get it yet. You can have whoever you want in your side in any position and they'll be on full chemistry, so long as you meet the 7 leagues requirement.

I haven't yet touched Champs. Not sure I will tonight.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I haven't touched it either.

I'll be playing 2-4 games before bed I think and then I need to hit it hard tomorrow.

[Raoul Duke]

I ploughed through the first half of the Squad Battles ones - 11 NOS First Owners and then just subbed on Mane to obliterate the goat herders. Need to buy five French UCL players to makeup the other team. Will get through that and the Cunha stuff tomorrow I think.

What are people taking for Icon Swaps? I'm thinking one of the Mid or Prime pack, 89+ Mid or Koeman.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just played such a dickhead. He got two quick goals and then just passed it around his team, went backwards and would just stop on the ball. Managed to get it back to 2-2 and then in the 87th minute he scored a goal that I was in a near perfect position for and for once didn't trigger an AI block.

1-3.

Not bothering with another game after that shit.

[thommo]

I wanted to take Koeman, because that card looks obscene. However, I've cocked up royally - I only did 2 Icon Swaps from the first batch because I assumed there was another 12 up for grabs in this season. Now I'm capped at 12 Icon Swaps so I'm going to have to go for the Mid Icon Pack and hopefully get something usable.

I was lucky enough to get back online this afternoon around 2pm before the season ended, and I grinded quickly to Level 30 for the Romagnoli, and got my 10 remaining wins in Managerial Masterpiece for Deulofeu by about half 5. I've got a nice selection of Serie A players now and I might build a hybrid with the Bundesliga for Weekend League.

Interesting to see how the 'golden goal' shenanigans have forced EA's hand with regards to Icon Swaps this season. I just watched Nepenthez's 1 hour + long video regarding this, and for once, I agree pretty much completely with him.

[Gray Fox]

You've done well getting Deulofeu. I think he's comparable to Carrasco. I use the 84 IF version and like him a lot. I actually usually directly swap the 2 in a sub due to low stamina. Romangnoli looks decent, but I couldn't get there in time. I'd have needed another 2 or 3 days.

This seasons players look wank. The level 15 offerings are all terrible and the 87 Pulisic I think is the only of the 3 worth taking at 30.

As for Icon swaps, I generally hate playing the AI so I didn't get those 3 last time out. I also claimed the 83+ x 25 pack already, so I can at most get 9. My options are 2 ultimate packs, 5 x 85+, Vidic, Base Icon Pack or Hagi.

I'll rule out Hagi and likely the Icon pack too. The question then is do I want the known quantity in Vidic, or the gamble of taking the 2 pack variants.

I think the pack way pays off 2 fold. There's a small chance of a big pull between them, but also if you don't then you have some SBC fodder. For example you could go a long way to doing Robben off just the 85+ pack.


As for the golden goal stuff, this was always coming. Perhaps had it not got toxic it would have stayed, but they've said right now you must grind them.

[Gray Fox]

Found myself 0-2. My very first game was a Big Sam enthusiast. 2nd game saw everything go wrong that could.

Then my finger slipped and I accidentally bought Bruno and Mane. I've since recovered to 5-3. It does feel like complete random chance who I am matched up with though.

[Raoul Duke]

Mane is a fantastic player, isn't he? Been loving using him. His Freeze card must be outrageous.

I've sold up nearly everything and am up to 1.2m coins with a little bit more to go. Going to wait for the post-TOTY crash and to complete Icon Swaps and then swoop to see what I need to improve my main squad.

Also, I had a thought earlier - you can probably use the Loan Icon Barnes for the English Icon Swap games :sherlock:

[Shindig]

I've found the Vs CPU tournaments on MyTeam so I'm coasting through them for PES money or whatever. Some stone cold facts:

- Marcelo Salas is class. Latches on to Bruno Fernandes' through balls like they are telepathically linked.
- Gazza is also class. It's 'thin' Gazza which is to say 1990-1992. Before his leg snapped and he succumbed to pies.
- Karl-Heinz Rumminegge is shite. Seems to stop any attack we have dead, although tactics play a part in that.

My intention is to put no money down for this and it should be possible given how the game hands out free cards. Login bonuses are on a 10 day cycle and whenever you come back to the Day 1 reward, it's 500 PES coins. That's the paid shit they use for some Special Agent stuff. 5 free players. What I really need is to land Klopp or someone as a manager so I can play how I do in Master League. I've got way too much space between my striker and the rest of the front line.

EDIT: Okay, there is an auction house. You don't list players, though. You list scouts which then determine your odds for the pull. I might stick with this fake manager now because I've just beat Barcelona on Superstar difficulty. If I'm going to devote most of my time in CPU matches I don't need to chase Kloppball so much.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EqvSj4kXAAQQ7sm?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

Good start to the day.

Surprisingly the guy was really good at locking down Bebou and Telles (not that hard to lock down Telles tbh) as he didn't have very good fullbacks in Telles who isn't fast enough to keep up with Bebou and Cancelo. Fortunately he was shit at defending down the middle despite having the meta VVD and Gomez.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Also, I've decided that I will not be going for Vidic in swaps.

I'll still be taking the Ultimate packs and I'll be using the rest on the base icon pack. The only CB that I have that Vidic is better than is Mukiele who I really like there, taking him out would mean I'd have to shift my current team or have a second player (Zakaria is the one right now) start off chem. So for me the chance to get a big boy would help me so much more.

[Yevrah]

On the golden goal objectives thing, I think a lot of people have confused having fun with getting objectives done quickly. The two are very different things and even though I did gg, going into games and scoring once and then winning or quitting, wasn't fun.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI5Li8gdbmc

How?

Thankfully I won 3-2 although I also missed two sitters either side of my third goal which made me think I was going to lose.

4 wins in a row, I love Saturday Champs, has seen me go to 5-3.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just won a 6th game in a row. I was 2-0 up but he managed to claw it back and was 3-2 up. I then made it 3-3 and it went to extra time.

He scored and with 10 minutes left I was down but managed to get two late to win it.

Went ultra attacking brought on Inaki Williams and scored 2 goals late.

Need some time after that.

[Danny]

5 SB tokens in 12 games yesterday.

Think I will move onto one league next. Apparently its glitched where Prem goals count for the La Liga one so I need to test that real quick.

[Danny]

5 SB tokens in 12 games yesterday.

Think I will move onto one league next. Apparently its glitched where Prem goals count for the La Liga one so I need to test that real quick.

Yep. Still glitched. Will save 4 games.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Classic EA.

Shame it will be fixed by the time I'm on those games.

[Danny]

People are playing golden goal. Might be worth doing the 4 games quickly before they fix it

Since you have to play 6 with La Liga anyway.

[Raoul Duke]

Did the 86+ SBC and got Sergio Ramos. Meh :sorry:

[Danny]

Decent pull. Shocked he is worth less than the pack!

[Yevrah]

Cheers for the heads up on that glitch Danny, just rattled through the EPL token as a result.

[Danny]

Nice! Saving 4 games is worth just grinding it now.

[Gray Fox]

I've done the same.

I'm thinking of getting the 85+ x 5 pack opened as soon as I get the tokens. There's only 2 of those current Headliners that wouldn't be possible from it and unless my luck is absolutely vile and I get literally 5 85's, then there's plenty to throw at an SBC.

EDIT: I also need to get a good 3-5-2 on the go. I've switched to it manually a few times and it works well for me, I just seem to get the CAM drifting over to the LM spot for some reason.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Went 5-1 down in a WL game but clawed it back to 5-3. He then made it 6-3 so I went to my ultra attacking formation.

Pulled it back to 6-6 and sent it to extra time. Was a little cagey there but unfortunately we let one in on the 116th minute to lose the game.

I also missed a sitter with the very last kick of the game which would have sent it to extra time.

Followed it up with a 7-5 win where I just couldn't defend a lead. I made it 3-0 and he pulled it back to 3-2 after I switched to my ultra defensive formation. From there I switched back to my defensive tactic and we were just trading goals pretty much.

8-5 right now.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Ending the day at 9-6 after just scraping past some dickhead skiller 6-4 after being down 2-0 to start the game.

I think the plan for next week is to do those Van Bergen objectives and I'll bring him on for Telles or Allan. Right now Telles at LM in my 3-5-2 is by far the weakest link.

Ultimately I'll be hoping that Bruno is in the TOTY and I can pack him. This would allow Telles to slot in at CDM and Bruno from LM.

[Gray Fox]

Also find myself 9-6. Matchmaking just got disabled too. I was annoyingly at 9-3 at one point.

3-5-2 does seem to suit me much better, but some of the players are square pegs in round holes. I'm still sick and tired of camping out on the edge of their area watching defenders auto block for ages, while they hold a CDM, only to have them through on goal in 2 passes.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

WL extension please.

[Shindig]

PES is shit again. :moop: 3 points clear of the Bundlesliga, Bayern travel to Feyenoord for the World Cup Cup and Al Hilal. This team of Swansea and Sunderland rejects provide a complete wall, coupled with our full strength side underfiring. I've restarted the match and got the same the result.

Rigged. I don't care what you say to investors, Konami: A World Club Cup semi-final is not an occasion worthy of nerves.

[Yevrah]

Has a player in FUT ever reached a 99 outside of his TOTY/S card?

[Gray Fox]

From what I can tell only Messi has. He had a 99 CL TOTT card in '19. Ronaldo has got a 98 a few times but never a 99 that wasn't a TOTY/S.

[Yevrah]

Interesting. I could see Bruno Fernandes doing it this year if Man Utd have a decent run in the Europa.

The addition of those three league SBC's has been brilliant for grinding. Smashing the bronze packs big time.

[Raoul Duke]

Did the 89+ Icon pack and got Henry. Bit dubious about a couple of his stats but will give him a fair crack. Would have much preferred either a RW or a central card as that's what I'm lacking more of. Still, worth a dice roll.

[Gray Fox]

Went from 9-6 to 12-6 and felt like things are definitely looking up. I swapped Bruno to try Jota TOTGS card as Bruno was playing RM anyway. Next match in the guy had Mbappe and Eto'o up front, Zidane and Kante in midfield with Cannovarro and Varane in defence along side the highest version of Alphonso Davies.

12-6 quickly became 12-7. I put up a decent fight, but he was a very good dribbler and that leads to me guessing in the box. Sometimes I got it wrong and those guys just dont miss.

I should hopefully grab the last 2 wins later on.

The 2 Americans are doing reasonably well too. Long, whilst still not the best is a definite upgrade on Ake and Lima has been filling in pretty well at CDM. Mane moving up top with Felix as a CAM has been a breath of fresh air.

I'm thinking of getting on with the swaps tonight instead as people seem to be playing golden goal. I was mistaken into thinking there were only 9 available when there are in fact 10. This may change things.

I could go for the base/mid Icon pack now. I could also go base Icon and 2 ultimate packs. Hagi is also a possibility too, though I'm still unsure on him.

[Danny]

I am going to get up to 10 of them (need the two one nation ones) and I will then save the packs for TOTY.

[Gray Fox]

Headliners Milinkovic-Savic SBC out, needs an 82 + IF and 85 + IF. 160-170k.

Also 81-87 upgrade packs as well as 82+ Guaranteed packs. There's one for Yev to grind at.

[Yevrah]

Indeed. Can add to the 50 of those 82+ packs I have already. :D

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

11-8.

Which is the same record as the week before.

I was planning to go to 14 wins this week but I didn't have as much time as I thought I'd have this weekend and I really can't be arsed right now. Will probably do some of the SB icon swaps as I'm sitting on 0 points this week.

[Gray Fox]

I've ended on 17-10. New new tactic too. I'll go into detail on that in another post.

Things much improved this week. I had 2 games which bugged me. The first saw a guy disconnect while the score was 0-0 and I was through on goal, the next match in I ended up losing. The second match I was 3-0 up inside 40 mins and the power went out. Annoyingly he paused and stood still for ages after the 3rd goal so he might not have made it out of half time.

Shout outs go to these two:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eq1spGdXMAgqTiu?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eq1snmLXUAA5hi7?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

They're both on more than that now but both have hit those milestones during this weekend and that is only playing Weekend League.

[Danny]

Anyone doing SMS? I am going to keep any eye on it and see what else comes.

I did a few of those upgrades and got some decent cards that would certainly help but nothing crazy. He could slot into my team next to Tello replacing Gold Nainggolan but then again so could that Duncan at level 15.

[Yevrah]

I am very tempted, but mainly because he's a live item and I love that shit.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I haven't decided.

He wouldn't get into my first team but he'd be a HUGE upgrade in my shitty Serie A side and he's a live item so could get better.

I'd probably have to spend to get him though.

[Danny]

Pretty much the only thing dragging me in. He already has two IF's though. Though enough to get a 3rd. Never mind when EA don't want you to.

Lazio have also only won 6 in 15. Never mind 4 in a row.



Edit: One that note. Whats everyones thoughts on the level 15 and 30 players?

I think 15 is a banging selection but will take Duncan.

30 is also very nice. I have no need for Pulisic or Plea but Emerson could become my first choice La Liga RB so will likely take him unless I get something better in the mean time and want fodder.

[Yevrah]

Duncan definitely at 15, he looks swish. The level 30 were a bit meh for me.

[Yevrah]

Actually, scrap level 30 being a bit meh, they all look alright actually. Not sure who I'll take though.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

At 15 I'll be taking Duncan as Bakambu offers nothing and I have Lala's shapeshifter on a loan for Ligue 1 friendlies.

At 30 I don't know. I don't need Plea but I can't decide between the other two as I think they both look really good and I'd happily take either.

[Yevrah]

That max chemistry mode is absolutely rancid. Why does every player feel like they're on speed? An utter headache to play.

[Raoul Duke]

Thioub and Emerson for me at 15 + 30 I think. I really don't need another Prem LW. I took Keita from the last round and he's great. Reminds me a bit of Fred from last year.

Unless you're dying to upgrade your Serie A team, there's surely got to be better things to spend 150k on than SMS? He's a tank.

EDIT: Kane in my SB rewards

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Didn't end up winning but:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pG748MzBAs

:drool:

I think that's my first ever direct corner goal.

[Raoul Duke]

Headliners Challenge SBC with a Draft Token pack as the content tonight :cab: I've never actually played Drafts. Is it worth it?

[Danny]

Neps reaction was pretty good :lol:

I usually just hammer an offline draft when I get these. Try a few new players and get a few packs at the end.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

On FIFA 20 it was quite profitable to start an online draft and then quit out of your first match.

You'd get a decent chunk of profit if you managed to get the Silver player pack or Jumbo Premium silver pack as your reward.

[Raoul Duke]

Did an offline Draft as I already had a token from something. Had CR7 up front with IF Rashford so pulverised everyone. Nothing much in the packs but enough fodder that I'll do the SBC and run through it again.

[Gray Fox]

Given silver Liga NOS/French players are likely to be expensive, going online shouldn't hurt. You may even get to try a card you were thinking of buying.

UCL Hummels in the pre-order pack for me so another 28k into the kitty.

[Yevrah]

Finishing Cunha and more pack grinding.

https://www.twitch.tv/chemicallocust

[Gray Fox]

This community is so toxic. Doing one nation and even with the game counter I expected some golden goal, but even still. I've just had a guy quit on me because I dared equalise. In any case, Brazil is done, just England to go and I've got 2/7. By far tougher with the 2nd lot though. I just dont have many English players with much pace or skill.

Anyway I promised a tactic and I've been having fun with it. I've used it in WL for my last 6/7 games too and it seemed to go well. It is very attacking and risk v reward though.

Formation - 4-1-4-1.

Defensive style - Press after possession loss
Width - 5
Depth - 10(yes, 10)

Offense style - Long ball
Width - 6
Players in box - 2

ST - Get in behind

LM/RM - Come back on defence, cut inside, get in behind
2 x CM - Get forward
CDM - Cover centre, stay back on attack
LB/RB - Stay back on attack, inverted runs

It sounds crazy but with the better players it leads to some exciting movement and blitzkrieg football.

You essentially want inside forwards with pace across the 4 midfield positions. They'll all make runs in their own way and free up lots of space for passing and overloads. The pace will also help hound the ball down quickly if it's lost. For example I've had Mane and Felix at the two CM spots and they've worked well.

The depth and defensive style will put a lot of people off but try it. Your defence will sit on the halfway line, but if you have fast players and good reactions you can win that ball back.
It goes without saying that good stamina is needed for everyone ahead of the CDM. Some super subs will go a long way to help here.

[Gray Fox]

Grinded the last of the swaps to get my 85+ x 5 pack. I wanted to open it now with Rashford/Carrasco being a TOTW and the chance of getting a headliner in there.

I like what I got:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eq_Gz_tXUAY3k0k?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eq_G1WCWMAMQkmo?format=jpg&name=4096x4096


That's over 700k of players there. Bamba is also the 2nd best headliner for me to pull with already having Felix POTM. Salah just makes my decision all the better. I'll sell Mane Thursday and I'll have over 300k to spend. I could get Walker, Alisson, Varane and Mendy if things go well.

[Danny]

Very nice! Bamba looks like he has been on fire this season. They play 9th, 20th, 15th and 4th in their next 4. Very possible to get that upgrade.

[Gray Fox]

It's almost the exact same card as his POTM was, so I'm happy with that definitely. He's destroyed me more than once. At the very least he is an amazing sub. I can look to linking him in via that Aouar now too.

[Raoul Duke]

I had Bamba in my draft I played yesterday. Was a great little card - reminded me of Sterling and Dembele a bit. Not sure how you get them all into one team, but definitely opens up some interesting combos.

Some absolute lol John Stones SBC just out now. Pay 180k for a shit card...or buy Gomez for 30k :sherlock:

[Danny]

Yeah I liked the look of that Stones card until I saw the price. No thanks.

[Gray Fox]

https://i.gyazo.com/c216822bf31e7110cf1f2a3deaad4607.jpg

This could be the way. I'd need 370k to get this done though. Would mean at least a decent pull after Mane is sold.

[Yevrah]

800.

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

[Danny]

Its going to take forever :drool:

[Yevrah]

I will definitely need some annual leave, snacks and a lot of coffee.

[Gray Fox]

It was over 24 hours on '19 easily. '20 was what a 2-3 day effort?

You'll be opening packs in your sleep at this rate.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

1346849004370452480

Hmm, I didn't have the vote starting until Monday 11th.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

1346879352034750464

Kimmich or Ronaldo please.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.futbin.com/21/player/27228/romarinho

It's a shame he doesn't link in my silver starting team but he looks quality other than the 3* WF.

[Raoul Duke]

The Eredivisie Showdown players look great - Klaiber is probably better than Dumfries even at his base card, and Malen looks solid all-round. Either with an upgrade will be excellent. Kinda pushing me to do both and Robben...

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Only coming in at around 70k too.

[Raoul Duke]

I've been watching RTTF Promes for ages - he's shot up to over 200k after Robben came out so I'll need to wait for him to expire and hope he drops. Wish I'd picked up Koeman from swaps now and built a cracking Dutch team

[Gray Fox]

Compared Klaiber to Walker and even though both are 85 it's not close.

https://www.futbin.com/21/compare/27205/626

We could also be looking at a Acuna situation if he does get a +2. He's 6ft with good passing and dribbling for a full back. His pace and physical is outstanding. An upgrade would sure up those defensive holes too.

As for TOTW. CR7 would be far too lol for me to get. Lukakau, Aspas, Akanji or obviously Kimmich would be great to get as reds. The rest is SBC fodder.

[Danny]

Ill be doing both of those showdowns to pad the dutchie team out. Klaiber or Dumfries at CB

[Raoul Duke]

Stick a Sentinel on Klaiber and he's 90+ on every stat in PAC, DEF and PHY except slide tackles, which is 89 :cab:

[Gray Fox]

Klaiber is 70k and the only 2 RBs that exist that are as good or better than him are Icons and 10 x his price.

https://www.futbin.com/21/compare/238/27205/264

[Yevrah]

Klaiber looks a must.

I've not tempted by the other one. Am I wrong not to be?

[Gray Fox]

Klaiber looks a must.

I've not tempted by the other one. Am I wrong not to be?

The work rates seem off and he has 3* weak foot, which is a bit of a put off, but he wouldn't be the easiest thing to link into a common team, whereas Klaiber links to that shiny new Robben and VVD.

I wont be doing him.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I still haven't decided if I'll do Malen but anyone who doesn't do Klaiber is a fool.

[Raoul Duke]

Malen is good if you're going to have a Dutch/hybrid team or possibly planning ahead for the next Icon Swaps (assuming they do something similar and it requires an Eredivisie team).

[Danny]

Malens cards are usually quite fun. That and having an Eredivisie/Dutch forward for swaps later on.

Robben, Malen and Van Bergen front 3 with Promes behind :drool:

[Raoul Duke]

It's such a shame they didn't make Robben a CAM

[Raoul Duke]

Right - that's Robben in as well. I need to pick up VVD soon, but I realised I might accidentally end up playing an almost entire Liverpool first team (with a Dutch right-side) :D

[Gray Fox]

There's also very likely another Lewandowski POTM incoming. This one will be I think 94 rated. I don't know what to invest in(Goretzka seems safe?). But I probably should right? Last one cost 450k or so according to todays prices so this should be 600-700k I'd imagine.

As for TOTY I think we should do a TTH predicts. My personal prediction:

Neuer - Could be close with Alisson/Oblak here, but his performance in the CL final seals it.

Alexander-Arnold
Van Dijk
Ramos
Davies - I think the defence picks itself aside from maybe Ramos, but has another CB really stood out anywhere?

Kimmich
De Bruyne
Bruno Fernandes - You could maybe argue Thiago in there over Kimmich, but Thiago being out the last 2.5 month of the season gives the nod to Kimmich to me.

Ronaldo
Lewandowski
Mane - Perhaps my most contentious is having Mane here, but I think the other 2 are obvious. The last spot is the most up for grabs. You could easily get Neymar, Mbappe, Messi or even Salah as the last spot as there's a good case for them, but I've gone Mane as the usual CR7, Messi and A.N.Other would be nicely done away with.

[Danny]

I think thats pretty much the team we picked when talking about it on Yevs chat a while back. I could see maybe Messi over Ronaldo since neither have been as spectacular as usual and its a bit of a coin flip there.

[Yevrah]

I can't see how EA are going to miss out on having Neymar, Messi and Mbappe. A 12th man will definitely happen, but will we get a bench this year?

[Gray Fox]

They'll need to do something. But then these are the most exclusive non-Icon cards there will be. I wouldn't want too many of them about if I were EA. Even so, one or more of the elite attackers will miss out this year.

[Gray Fox]

Sadly only Soucek and another 81 I can't remember for the reds for me. As I'd enough for the upgrades I wanted, I forwent the 47k in Rivals to take a bunch of untradeable packs. The idea being to pump consumables back in, give me non-rares for the 81-87 upgrades and always more chances to get lucky.

Ended up with 395k, a headliners Hinteregger and a De Gea, the latter players there account for almost exactly the 47k I would have got anyway and De Gea will help greatly with the Klaiber/Robben SBCs. Hinteregger will be kept as you never know future SBC requirements and given an upgrade or two he could be very good.

Feels like the team has taken a big step up in quality over the last 2 weeks. Always good to see progress.

I also now have 5 useless FUT Champs reds. Do I stick them into the 83-86 upgrade or do I hold off 3 weeks and get the 86+?

[Yevrah]

At this point I’d hold for the 86+ were it me.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Lucas Vazquez as my red this week :(

Haven't decided if I'll do Champs this week or next due to the NFL playoffs.

[Yevrah]

How are the packs going 'how?

[Danny]

https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/fifa/fifa-21/ultimate-team/toty

Voting open.

No Muller :face:


Voting closes on the 18th. WHAT THE FUCK.

[Danny]

Danny Ings is in :D

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.ea.com/en-gb/games/fifa/fifa-21/ultimate-team/toty

Voting open.

No Muller :face:


Voting closes on the 18th. WHAT THE FUCK.

Ugh, I thought 18th originally but the vote came earlier than I thought so I hoped for an early TOTY.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Danny Ings is in :D

Andre Silva is even worse.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://i.imgur.com/DU77dKo.png

Went for all the Bundesliga and Prem options I could.

[Yevrah]

The 18th? What do you reckon that does to the timeline?

I'm gonna hit 1,000 packs easily if the full team isn't in packs until the weekend of the 23rd, let alone the 30th.

[Yevrah]

Apparently you can vote spam, so I assume this gives license to EA to put who the hell they like in.

[Danny]

The 18th? What do you reckon that does to the timeline?

Headliners team 2 until next Wed/Friday
Something else (future stars? Shapeshifters?)
TOTY the Monday 25th

[Gray Fox]

I think they need a future stars promo to shift up the meta a little. There's only currently 7 defenders you'd want in your back line if you don't have an icon for example.

The upgrading is complete for me this week. I forgot I'd have coin from selling Jota and Carrasco back too, so I had more then enough.

The team:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ErJRE0BXIAA2Aos?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

I still have 115k to hand. The plan to get Klaiber on 10 chem is to earn Virgil next week. I'd love to have gone Giminez and that RTTF Oblak, but the latter has since gone extinct on Playstation.
I also still have Robben to do, but with rewards and such I should just about have enough to get him done in the 8 days left. Assuming nothing else comes up between now and then.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Saudi league has dropped :drool:

[Yevrah]

And the EPL and Ligue 1.

You'll be able to grind everything now from just grinding bronze packs and bronze upgrades, with buying a few players here and there...

[Gray Fox]

Got my draft token pack thing and entered an online one. Won it and got TOTW Akanji in the packs. 27k more added into the pot.

[thommo]

Rewards weren't particularly good today - 81 Leibold as my red pick, and no boards from either (!) of my 50k packs for Rivals. I was able to recycle the untradeable duplicates into the upgrades though, which gave me 2 82+ packs, from which I packed Keylor Navas and Luis Suarez. Not too shabby, and perfect for the multitude of player SBCs that I want to do.

I was working on the upgrades earlier in the week, and it allowed me to complete SMS for the cost of Arthur (8k). I tried him out in Rivals and he seems pretty good - he has the body type where he seems to win every challenge he goes in for, and he was a beast from corners.

The upgrades paid out quite well, and I still a number of high-rated players to chuck into the Eredivisie SBCs, including IF Casemiro, Muller, Werner, Icardi, Donnarumma, etc. Now just need to finish off Cunha tonight and get cracking on the new league SBC grind. :drool:

[Yevrah]

The ratings required are uber low again, so if you've been saving all silvers and bronzes for the leagues, you're golden.

[Yevrah]

The quest to 1,000 packs continues and I'd better do some of those player SBC's tonight too...

https://www.twitch.tv/chemicallocust

[Gray Fox]

I feel like with enough crap in the club and those upgrade packs you could do craft most if not all of those current SBCs.

Haaland included, though Bruno may be a step too far. I did see Nick28T(who has a ridiculous club similar to Yevs but with a red CR7) was planning on grinding the last 4 days of it to try and get him first owner for almost nothing.

[Yevrah]

I may have to whisper this, but now we have a fair few league SBC's I think they might actually be better than they were last year.

[Yevrah]

Oh and in more things people don't want to hear, this will be the first and only year objectives will be in a friendly mode.

[Danny]

100%

They will be pissed with the way it went but where do they go from here. People thought they took it out of rivals because it’s what they wanted. I think they took it out so you couldn’t get rewards while earning these players.

[Gray Fox]

I remember when they had a special card locked behind a tournament win. You only got so many attempts to try to win it or else tough luck.

There's hints of that in the one nation challenge, but that 60 game limit is very generous. Or they could change all of the challenges to "Do X and win" and golden goal would disappear.

[Raoul Duke]

Paraphrasing a post on Reddit: if the main problem is people are trying to minimise their playtime of your game, maybe the problem is the game

This is useful if you want to see good value SBCs: https://www.futbin.com/stc/challenges (based on reward value vs. cost)

[Gray Fox]

Concalo Guedes objective, Mahrez Headliner SBC, Headliners team 2 looks decent. 84+ player pick sbc too.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Up to 204 packs now (4.6m coin value) which isn't too shabby but obviously looks like shit compared to Yev.

I wont be doing Champs this week or next as I want to get some objectives done as well as hammer some more SBC's and clear transfer list space as I'm at 99 right now.

[Gray Fox]

Took my Ultimate packs from the Icon Swaps and ended up with Headliners Rafinha as the only notable thing, the rest went into Robben. He actually looks like if he gets an upgrade or two more he'd be a great card to have.

I've also moved into Champs. I sit 5-2 and will be done for the night. The gameplay has been so horrible in most of these games my players have acted thick as fuck. As such it's hard to really judge the new guys fully. However I can tell Klaiber is great even on 7 chem. Varane also gets stupid blocks in from outer space distances away from opponents.
I've brought Robben on off the bench once and that was in my last game. It was 1-1 and my opponent was one of those who sits everyone back, controls the CDM and tells 4 players to stay forwards. Robben won me a penalty(his dribbling is sexual) and then pumped in one of his trademark finesse shots from outside the box to seal the game. Top quality card.
Bamba and Salah feel very similar, though the sluggish gameplay doesn't really help that at all.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I have just four non-rare golds in my club right now.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Robben done. I had to buy Bernardo Silva and Matip to make chem work rest was from my club.

[Gray Fox]

You've at least got Kaka to put your stuff into now Yevrah. Owen looks okay too and he's there. Keane not so much I think.

[Yevrah]

Yeah, just clocked that Fox.

Makes me more confident there'll be stuff to do after all.

[Danny]

Decided to use my tokens for ultimate packs today as I needed to pad out the club to work through some of these SBC's both of those produced crappy TOTW's and a couple of boards.

Did the TOTW upgrade and got Ben Mee :face: but I did the 84+ pick pack and got Oblak. I can now sell my tradeable Ter Stegen

[Danny]

Just got Varane from a 5k pack :drool:

[Yevrah]

Got some Portuguese rotter from the TOTW pack.

[Raoul Duke]

Got HL Raphina out of some Objective pack (untradeable). Looks meh but perhaps has a decent shout at getting an upgrade if Pochettino can get PSG back to crushing FC Camembert etc. regularly

[Yevrah]

Just got Varane from a 5k pack :drool:

Cracking work. Keep or sell?

[thommo]

Got Rodri from my 84+ Player Pick. :moop:

Need to finish Cunha and start Weekend League tonight. Not to mention continuous grinding of these upgrades to do Malen/Robben (with Klaiber already in the club).

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

My 84+ player pick was a choice between 4 84's :moop:

Went for Partey.

[Yevrah]

They are rancid, aren't they.

I got two 85's and two 84's. Took Luis Alberto.

[Danny]

Cracking work. Keep or sell?

Already gone. Broken card but should only keep falling.

[Danny]

I only did it because I had a stack of 83s I was never going to use.

[Danny]

Closing in on the 50 games with 7 TOTW and the 300 silver goals just buy using them in SB's and the silver stars stuff

It will leave me 139 and 184 games away from the next two objectives. Thats going to be a while before I get there!

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Managed to get 16 players off my transfer list which will help when the packs can be opened. Most of the ones remaining are likely league SBC players who have no SBC yet.

Although I've noticed that a lot are J1 players and EA didn't release a J-League SBC last year...

[Gray Fox]

I did upgrades which got me an 82 Akanji so in he went to the 84+ pick and Laporte was my pick. I've rinsed everything gold common or below through the upgrades and ended up with a load of 82s and 83s now and not really anything that isn't a gold rare in the club.

Probably not a good idea with TOTY potential league upgrade packs incoming but what can you do? I'm 8-3 in Champs now and tbh I don't really feel like playing on right now as I'm not in the mood.

[Yevrah]

900.


https://i.postimg.cc/pTXsv0Cr/Packs.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

That's insane.

[thommo]

:drool:

What are you working on in particular now, league SBCs?

[Yevrah]

Yeah, did the Bundesliga, Prem, Saudi, French, EFL, Serie A and MLS all again over the last couple of days and have just spent the last 4 hours opening all of the silver or 1 rare gold only packs and recycling dupes in the web app to replenish the club for another round.

It's getting quite tedious now and I think I've played one actual game this week, but now only 98 away from the 1,000.

Got a shit load of three common gold upgrades to build now from all the silvers from the leagues with no SBC's (either current or expected). Might do some 81-87's with the off league golds too.

[Yevrah]

Actually, it'll end up being more than 1,000 packs as I'm gonna keep going until I've hit all three targets in that spreadsheet.

Will have to be careful to keep track soon though as I think the counter in the store page in game stops at 999.

[Yevrah]

I see Nepenthez has changed tack on his approach to stacking TOTY packs again.

It would be easier if he said he just can't be arsed. He'll probably pack one anyway no matter what he has as he always does.

EDIT: Watching his video now, he's discarding stuff he could be putting into upgrade packs if he waited for TOTY. Moronic.

[thommo]

I've given up watching Nep. Too irritating. The only recent thing I've agreed with him was his whole outlook on Icon Swaps and the 'golden goal' community debacle. Otherwise I've not watched him in months.

[Yevrah]

Yeah, agreed with him on that too.

I still like him, but Nick28t is far better.

[Gray Fox]

Up to 11-6 now. Just faced 3 straight guys using 4-2-2-2 who just sit with 2 CDMs in front of the defence and ping it up for the quick through ball. When one of those is Kante that's a really tough time for me.

[Danny]

I watch Nep for new content but skip anything else he does. The rest of it is just annoying watching him contradict and back track on everything.

I can’t stand Nick so don’t watch him.

[Gray Fox]

11-6 --> 14-7 and I'm done. The run of 4-2-2-2 users continues throughout so I can only assume a youtuber of some kind has done a video on it. The loss came after I came from 3-0 down to level, only to concede this...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0CuCdL2T4Y

Last week was 17-10 so I'm doing a little better each time. Varane does make a hell of a difference back there when I'm not getting bullshit goals like the above. Every game has been a close run one but 1 too, so I haven't been outclassed this weekend which is a first.

I'm stopping there because stupidly the packs are better at Gold 3 than at Gold 2 and I don't fancy the push to Gold 1 right now.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Him doing a full goal celebration after that goal...

[Yevrah]

What a rancid cunt.

[Gray Fox]

Still, this weekend was an experiment to see if I could get away with CR7 and Felix on 8 chem. If I could it would make future squad building a lot easier with only having to soft link them.

CR7 suffered pretty much no loss of form at all. If anything his goalscoring may have gotten better as I started to play better. Felix is a different story. He felt a little lost during the weekend. Admittedly he was playing as a very attacking CM through it, but he felt like he lost a step.

Anyway, Ajax shirts at the ready. I'm happy with Klaiber as is, but any boost would be amazing. I'm trying a trick with Malen. Way back in FIFA 17 I decided with little time left to do an El Shaarawy SBC, but it was multiple parts. By the time I got to the last one there was only about 5 mins left and I didn't have great cards left. Back then you could not buy new cards without leaving the SBC. I ended up chucking a load of stuff into it from the club to get it done and it let me submit it.
I have it sat finished just ready to submit now. If PSV start winning I'll try and submit it. If it works great, if it doesn't I wont lose sleep.

[Danny]

Hope that trick works :rosebud:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Klaiber :(

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I see that there was a FIFA live event for a token earlier today that I missed.

Oh well, I wasn't even given my third token despite "watching" the entire stream.

[Danny]

I didnt get one for one of them either and missed this one as it was a terrible time for me.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

The comeback IS ON.

[Yevrah]

Yeah, I fucked them off after the first token.

The pack could have Prime Moments Pele in it and it would barely be worth living your life around tuning into that shite.

[Danny]

Next one for the day starts in 20 mins apparently.

Guess I will stick it on a background tab while I watch the second half of Ajax PSV

[Gray Fox]

The Malen trick did not work. Some Reddit diving suggests it was patched last year/year before. People were doing it to play the odds on FUTMAS. If a new card came out you liked abandon the old one.

If Ajax could at least nab a draw here I'd be happy.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

2-2 \0/.

Don Antony.

[Gray Fox]

I'll take it. Upgrades for all!

[Danny]

Ill take that as I ended up doing both.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I didn't do Malen and now regret it.

[Gray Fox]

3 new upgrade packs, that unfortunately expire in 9 days and a pointless Dos Santos today.

Now where's my damn upgrade.

[Danny]

Going to be tomorrow before we see upgrades I reckon.

[thommo]

Ill take that as I ended up doing both.

:nod: Me too. Also did Robben this morning. Rinsed my club of high-rated cards though, so I'll be back on the new upgrades this week.

Completed Cunha last night and he's straight onto the bench as he looks very similar to Anderson Talisca, who I've heard great things about. WL grind starts now!

[Yevrah]

I've got a clean Carlos Vela RB card. :cool:

[Danny]

Looks like a fun little card with an Anchor. Might end up doing him if I get something I need to use.

[Yevrah]

Selling all of my 83s off and maybe some gold pack method.

https://www.twitch.tv/chemicallocust

[thommo]

Finished 14-9 and I am spent. 23 games basically on the trot, with several going to extra time, and one truly gutting penalty loss after going down to 10 men in the 9th minute (this also included a 120th minute rebound equaliser from my opponent :moop:).

Not a bad record overall but there were a few games in there where I definitely underperformed and missed chances to win, so a little disappointed it wasn't a tad better. RTTF Correa was probably the star of the show from centre forward, and Malen was a brilliant striker super-sub - his upgrade will make him even better.

[Raoul Duke]

I've been rinsing the 80+ PP SBC this morning - just struck gold and pulled a cheeky Kante on my lunch break :drool:

[Yevrah]

I am very tempted to build 100 of those early next week and save them for TOTY.

Seems worth chucking 500k ish of coins into.

[Raoul Duke]

Yeah, the weight seems pretty good - I'm really tempted to chuck a few hundred k into it and see what comes out. Since Kante I've picked up another few 84-86 cards. It'll make Marquee Matchups a nightmare as I've lost most of the gold cards I had (outside the main leagues), but I'm surely up just from Kante and other fodder

[Yevrah]

I did 5 last night and got Laporte, Hummels and an 84 I can't recall.

They really are great value.

[Yevrah]

Did that Mexican chap earlier as he looks half decent.

First pack milestone hit, with the 20m coin barrier SMASHED through.


https://i.postimg.cc/BnqWkdF8/Packs.jpg (https://postimages.org/)


Plan is now:

11th -17th

Recycle all of the common bronzes I have from every league bar the main 5 into 2 player silver upgrades
Receycle all common silvers into 3 player gold packs
Complete MLS, Lib, Sud, EFL, Bundesliga, EPL, Ligue 1 & Saudi one final time before TOTY. That should take me to just over 1,000 packs for TOTY
Marquee Matchups, objectives etc. will take me to well over 1,000 packs

18th - 24th

Take all the silvers and bronzes from the non top 5 leagues and whack those into upgrade packs to get common golds.
Use those commons to make 100 80+ player picks - I'll have to buy the rare golds and no doubt a fair few commons too when I run out - I've got 700k of coins to play with to keep me above 7m coins going into TOTY
Play Weekend league at the end of the week

24th - 30th

Do any player objectives at the start of the week and MM etc, but other than that steer clear of the game. With 80+ player picks and packs combined I should be somewhere between 1,100 to 1,200 by then for TOTY.
Open the fuckers once the whole team is in packs. If we get a 12th man on Saturday at 6PM again I'll wait for that if the full team is in packs until Tuesday at 6pm as that'll give me 72 hours to open somewhere in the region of 2,500 packs (including recycling into upgrades)
If the upgrade packs go to the front of the packs in the pack store this will make things so much easier to target leagues as I'll be able to change what upgrade packs I'm building depending on which TOTY's I've packed, if they're not at the front (and I wouldn't let them be were I EA) that'll be much harder to manage.

Sound logic or have I missed anything?

[Gray Fox]

We usually get defence first, then midfielders, then forwards and then a couple of days of all in packs do we not?

I can't see how they're not going to have more than a 12th man though. At present you're already looking at, at least 2 of Messi, Mbappe and Neymar missing out and then there's also the likes of Mane and Salah who will be close but popularly voted for.

Have they ever done a bench or an SBC for one?

[Yevrah]

Yeah, that's the way they release them, so reckon the full team will be in packs on 29th Jan.

Can't recall them ever doing a TOTY player in anything other than packs. An SBC would be awesome, but sadly can't see it.

[Gray Fox]

I can see them doing something big. It's the time of year when most packs are opened so they really do need to find a way to get those top attackers involved.

Perhaps those who miss out could get those halfway boosted TOTY nominee cards they brought out a few years back.

[Danny]

These are based on responses submitted rather than anything official.

1348689492715167745

Keeper and Defender Vote

1348689496754302976


Midfielder and Attackers

1348689551825526784

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Davies, Kimmich, Bruno and Lewa :drool:

[Gray Fox]

Hard to argue that team really. Though that'd make 4 from EPL, 4 from Bundesliga, 2 La Liga and Ronaldo by his lonesome. If that is the split then I think Bundesliga upgrades are the way to go. At least there you could get the keeper, defender, midfielder or striker.

Just did that mystery ball challenge for the pack and it was good fun. Nothing in the pack so recycled the crap stuff into the 80+ upgrades and got Headliners Toko which isn't bad.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://fifaforums.easports.com/en/discussion/585540/fifa-21-title-update-8

Best thing there is no longer having to use an opponents ball in online gameplay. Biggest omission is no mention of AI blocks.

[Danny]

https://www.futbin.com/21/player/27205/sean-klaiber

https://www.futbin.com/21/player/27207/donyell-malen

Upgrades are out.'

+1's across the board.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FIFA/comments/krtdmb/showdown_malen_and_klaiber/

[Raoul Duke]

Lovely stuff. Still seething I didn't do Acuna :moop:

EDIT: they're fixing the ball issue so you only see the one you've chosen: https://fifaforums.easports.com/en/discussion/585540/fifa-21-title-update-8 :cool:

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

2 posts up...

[thommo]

So I rinsed through the MLS, Saudi and Bundesliga SBCs over the past few days and opened all the packs today, recycling duplicates and off-league cards straight into the 80+ Player Pick. The packs themselves were actually decent, with a lot of Small Electrum packs giving out boards.

The 80+ Player Pick was even better though. I didn't get anything less than a board for the first 7 I opened, taking Grimaldo, Ibra, ter Stegen, David Silva, Aranguiz, Mertens and Rui Patricio respectively. The picks cooled off a little as time went by, but I still managed to get Arthur, Kyle Walker and Rodri, as well as 2 IFs. All these meant I was able to do the Player Moments dos Santos for no cost whatsoever, and complete MM for the week, which I will open and recycle again shortly.

A good day and my luck was in. But it's made me think how on earth are you going to do 1000 packs for TOTY Yevrah, especially with recycling them back into packs? It's taken me several hours to do about 60!

[Yevrah]

I figure a minute for each pack including recycling, which on 2,000 packs equates to about 33 hours. Let's round to 40 for faffing.

I'll do that in 3 days. I may never want to see another SBC for as long as I live afterwards, but I'll do it.

[Danny]

https://www.reddit.com/r/FIFA/comments/kvso9v/beckham_got_different_hairstyles_to_go_with_his/

Would be nice if they did the 86 too.

[Danny]

Extra red picks objective this weekend.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FIFA/comments/kvww2j/weekend_league_extra_picks_objectives/

[Danny]

Showdown McTominay vs Milner. Both 85s

Pool should win but I am doing that McSauce

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I was hoping for a Greenwood tbh.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Extra red picks objective this weekend.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FIFA/comments/kvww2j/weekend_league_extra_picks_objectives/

Wasn't planning on playing this week, guess I'm dipping back in.

Hopefully more casuals are playing resulting in less sweat.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I was going to do McSauce but I've just seen the price/requirements.

An 83 (with 1 United), and 83 (1 IF, 1 PL) and an 84 (1 IF).

165k according to Futbin...

[Yevrah]

Wasn't planning on playing this week, guess I'm dipping back in.

Hopefully more casuals are playing resulting in less sweat.

Yeah, that might change my timeframes above and cause me to play this one too. I need to place twice before this season ends to get the 18 wins for Icon Swaps.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDkNx-9j5mg

Doing Cunha and only need Bundesliga goals. Mbappe is a cunt.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

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

Neuer :cool:

Let it be known though that I scored with Lewandowski early (only objective I have left for Cunha) so let the guy win, I even let his GK score.

[Yevrah]

I haven't hit 1,000 packs for TOTY yet, but can confirm that the in game counter stops at 999.

[Danny]

Worst Silver Star so far but I will still be doing him.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

I'm not bothering with him. Doesn't fit my starting 11, wouldn't make the bench.

Ass Pass and 86+ upgrade in SBC too.

[Danny]

He would be useful got anyone wanting to grind the 50 games with 7 TOTW since he gets a few links (Adeyemi and Mukhtar)

[Danny]

They have priced Aspas really well he is just no use to me with RB Williams upfront and untradeable gold Griezmann behind him.

[Raoul Duke]

That silver guy isn't too bad really. Bit of a tank but might be useful for links as they seem to have focussed loads on Germans.

[Danny]

https://i.redd.it/iwh02so9u5b61.png

https://www.reddit.com/r/FIFA/comments/kwp9gj/found_within_the_codes_toty_confirmed_for_january/

[Yevrah]

What do you reckon that does for the timescale on when the full team will be in packs?

[Danny]

Full thing Friday I would say.

[Gray Fox]

After seeing TOTW I understand why they’re throwing more picks at us for free. There really isn’t much usable in it at all, however there is some good 85-87 fodder to be had.

I think I’ve done enough for Rank 1 in rivals so I’m very tempted to pass on the 70k to take the untradeables and rinse it all through the upgrades and hope to tick off maybe Aspas or Milner for close to free.

[Danny]

Gulacsi and Gundogan the best from this mornings packs.

[Gray Fox]

A tradeable UCL Chiellini from the packs, red picks were crap again.

Alba, Marquinhos and Sane from the rivals untradeables. Though Sane was a duplicate so to not waste him I started on Aspas. Ended up after using all duplicates completing Aspas for free and I’ve done 1/2 on Dos Santos.

Churned the rest of the crap into 80+ picks and first one was Hazard. Got Azpi next and a bunch of 82s, but I think I’ve come out better than if I’d just taken the coins.

No changes to the team yet though. It has left me a little shy of VVD this way around. I’ll hold and see if 6pm brings anything. I’ve the stuff to pretty much knock out an 85 squad for something, I’m just not sold on putting the stuff into Milner. It’s probably the best card he’s going to get this year.

Annoyingly had there been no time limit on Kaka I’d run stuff through his SBC over time, but I’m not sure I’ll have that done in 8 weeks.

[Raoul Duke]

I've been tracking VVD and he definitely has spiky pricing going into WL. I'm going to wait a little longer before I pick him up.

[Raoul Duke]

Holy shit that Tavernier :| Klaiber's reign as best RB might have been very short.

Headliner too so there's a solid chance he'll get an upgrade

[Danny]

I will be doing that card.

I think Klaiber is the better defender but Tavernier is better going forward. Either way fucking hell :drool:

Its likely he gets another IF and they are already 2 wins into the 4 win streak.....

[Raoul Duke]

Could build a filthy team with Gomez - Tavernier and then Beckham or someone in front of them :sherlock:

[Danny]

Not sure if they are still there (probably are) but 81+ 7 rare player packs in the store.

Interesting new addition.

[Yevrah]

Has anyone done the week 2 gold objective 'pass & go'?

[Danny]

Apparently you do the first half of a regular 1 - 2 and score with the first person you pass to. I did so many variants I am not sure which worked but here is what people are saying:

Cruyff has the ball
Passes the ball to Eusebio with (LB + Pass) to trigger the 1-2
Then instead of passing back you score with Eusebio

[Raoul Duke]

That objective is dumb - it's not what it says. You don't need to do any right-stick flicking, just L1 and pass then score

[Gray Fox]

Why did they have to drop that Tavernier. He’s so good at everything he surely must be done.

#GullitGang.

[Yevrah]

Thanks gents.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

EA servers dead?

Edit: Nope, was on my end.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sWX9WGQezM

And I thought my keeper was shit.

[Danny]

HL Toko Ekambi, IF Larin and Lucas the card over 5K from MM's.

Also packed Allan right when I dont really need him anymore.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Not sure if they are still there (probably are) but 81+ 7 rare player packs in the store.

Interesting new addition.

Had a go as I had some points in my account.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eru7MRZXIAo68v0?format=jpg&name=medium

Not sure who to sell. Him, RTTF Zakaria or RTTF Klostermann.

Or I could bump Mukiele out of the starting line up.

I think keeping all 3 is out of the question as I'd have to remove Telles and Allan to make it work.

[Yevrah]

Hasn't Uppy got shocking composure and reactions? Is a CB really gonna get that many upgrades too.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Worse than the other 2 (well not composure compared to Klostermann but his reactions are a lot more) and RB lost their last game. His upgrade through league wins would come in February at the earliest but Leverkusen (who are playing well) are their fourth.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

https://www.futbin.com/21/players?page=1&sort=TotalStats&order=desc

Only Prime Zidane, Prime & Mid Gullit and Prime Matthaus beat Tavernier in base stats right now...

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Also, I'm mighty tempted by Haaland's POTM and when Upamecano goes (I can't split up Zakaria & Klostermann) I'd have enough coins to make sure I'll be able to buy anything I need towards him.

Main downside is that I wouldn't be able to start him (unless either he or Zola was off chem).

Another downside is that I should be able to afford his HL after I've opened my packs and/or Telles does something to raise his OTW price up.

[Gray Fox]

Finished up recycling absolutely everything through upgrades and it got me the rest of Dos Santos done. Then I sold up the stuff I mentioned earlier that was tradeable and hopped into Rivals. 2 wins later I'm promoted to Div 2, another 35k for me. I was very close to affording Van Dijk.

I had the stuff to do some of Tavernier but then had to buy a fair bit of the 85 squad. All in all it has put me back to about 150k on hand but an empty club now. It's a little annoying to miss out of Van Dijk for maybe another week or two but I have added 89 Aspas, 86 Dos Santos and also that Headliners Tavernier to the club for my troubles.

The latter had to be done. He is already Gullit Gang and could be quite easily deployed anywhere but in goal. He should become my defacto 2nd CM subbed on in the 2nd half at the very least.

[Danny]

Also, I'm mighty tempted by Haaland's POTM and when Upamecano goes (I can't split up Zakaria & Klostermann) I'd have enough coins to make sure I'll be able to buy anything I need towards him.

Main downside is that I wouldn't be able to start him (unless either he or Zola was off chem).

Another downside is that I should be able to afford his HL after I've opened my packs and/or Telles does something to raise his OTW price up.

If you cant/wont start him then I wouldnt commit to the POTM and just buy the headliners if you can muster the coins. They are 2 wins into the 4 but have Leverkusen for number 4 (3 is bottom of the table Mainz).

[Raoul Duke]

I'm thinking I can play something like this (https://www.futbin.com/21/squad/5225604) when I get VVD. I have everyone else. Still seething about not doing Acuna

[Gray Fox]

POTM Bruno 2.0 incoming.

[Gray Fox]

84, 84 + IF, 85 + IF, 86 + IF, 87 + IF and 88 for Bruno 2.0

[Yevrah]

Annoying for me if he gets a team of the year card as that's two of the POTM's that are effectively useless for the fodder I'll have from pack opening.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Just played my first champs game. Lost 4-1 due to EA not registering my triangle press until after Neuer had the ball in his hands, 2 penalties and a late counter goal.

Opponent obviously did a full celebration for each...

[Danny]

That Bruno is cheaper than his last one. Its a decent upgrade over his headliner too.

[Yevrah]

992 and counting.

https://www.twitch.tv/chemicallocust

I'll hit 1,000 packs today, maybe before Nick 28t.

[Yevrah]

Lars Stindl is Budesliga PotM? Jesus H Christ. Have EA been manipulating these?

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

It's a shocking card too.

[Yevrah]

It is genuinely rancid.

[Yevrah]

And done.

https://i.postimg.cc/BZ1NhFNh/Packs.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Well, I say done, there's a temptation to finish off a few more league SBC's to hit the three grand mark, but in reality I'm already there as all the packs with guaranteed 82+ or above players in them are valued as if they were 81+.

[Raoul Duke]

You need to upcycle some of the cheaper packs to some higher cash-equivalent ones to round it off at £3k :nodd: (or just use Euros...)

Immense effort though. How does this compare to some of the pro-streamer dweebs? I only really watch Boras but there must be some out there doing this method too.

[Yevrah]

Nick 28t who has the most of the streamers I know is sat on around 900 and something as I type.

He'll keep going though I'd assume, while (player picks aside) I think I'm done now.

[Raoul Duke]

Hot damn. That team is going to be insane and you're going to be loaded. I'm just going to chuck some cash in and see what lands

[Danny]

86 rated Bundesliga objective. LB Sinkgravel. Looks quite nice. Glad I finished Guedes.

Non repeatable 82+ position packs. Very cheap (dont think anything is packs so certainly saving)

Prime Carlos, Cannavaro and Okocha are up too.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

You need to upcycle some of the cheaper packs to some higher cash-equivalent ones to round it off at £3k :nodd: (or just use Euros...)

Immense effort though. How does this compare to some of the pro-streamer dweebs? I only really watch Boras but there must be some out there doing this method too.

Most of the streamers wont do it, largely because they can't be fucked and would rather just sink the money into packs.

[Raoul Duke]

That Cannavaro seems decently priced? Will wait a bit and see if I can pick up enough fodder to do him, but he's definitely on the list as a maybe

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Pretty tempted by Cannavaro tbh.

He might be what I sink the dupes into when I'm opening packs.

[Sir Andy Mahowry]

Assuming I pack no TOTY's (which would be gutting) I think my plan will be to do this in game:

https://i.imgur.com/jMAB9GT.png

Tav would start on 7 chem (at LB) but everyone else would be on 10.

I've been bringing on Tav at half time for Allan and my word is he good as a box to box.

Also, stopping today at 3-2 so a rare winning Friday. All 3 of my wins were easy (2 were early rage quits) and I should have beaten the second guy I lost to.