Dan, Shaq & Nath are back after a frustrating weekend of server woes and some questionable pack weight. Has there been a deliberate lowering of the weight, or is it all just a trick of the mind? We also look at all the latest content including the new Mixed TOTS Team 2, plus we answer your questions in the mailbag and much more.
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[00:00:00] Hello, FOOTies. Welcome along to your latest dose of EA FC Ultimate Team podcasting goodness.
[00:00:05] We are FUT IN REVIEW powered by Footcoaching.com.
[00:00:08] We are recording this on the 7th of May.
[00:00:11] And while it is one of the hosts birthdays today,
[00:00:15] it is the other two people on this show that have been celebrating their gifts
[00:00:19] from EA Sports over the past seven days.
[00:00:21] We're going to get into that and much more.
[00:00:23] We've got the latest mixed tots team.
[00:00:25] We've got a cracked Evo.
[00:00:27] We've got a little bit of a compensation potential going on as well as EA
[00:00:33] handouts, PS Plus packs and bring a whole new pool of players into this game.
[00:00:37] And much, much more to get to.
[00:00:40] As mentioned, I am joined not by one, but by two.
[00:00:43] It is the regular Tuesday crew.
[00:00:46] It is the scout Nathan Downs and my main man Shaq Atak.
[00:00:50] Gents, it's my birthday.
[00:00:53] But you two got the gifts from EA this week.
[00:00:56] You've walked into Premier League team of the season and you both walked away
[00:01:02] with the goods, Nate, and we start with you because you were the first one to
[00:01:07] strike you lucky in a move that will make many of our listeners turn off.
[00:01:11] Tell everybody who you packed.
[00:01:13] Yeah. So first things first, Dan.
[00:01:16] Happy birthday.
[00:01:17] Only a couple of years to the big five zero for you.
[00:01:20] So I'm excited.
[00:01:22] Unbelievable.
[00:01:24] But no, Prem talks was fairly good for me.
[00:01:27] I had, as I said last week, I had lots and lots of packs stored, mainly the
[00:01:31] exchange packs, but I was doing the daily gold upgrades and out of the
[00:01:37] 11 gold players with one rare popped a Virgil van Dyck.
[00:01:41] So quite happy to see the blue flares.
[00:01:43] I didn't really expect it to be him.
[00:01:45] Obviously, I was chasing Garnacho.
[00:01:47] So although I want a Garnacho, I did settle for the big verge.
[00:01:51] Settled for big verge quotes to live by from Nathan Downs.
[00:01:58] Shaq, we looked as if me and you were going to be on the sidelines looking at
[00:02:03] nice amazing pack, but almost at the buzzer, you strode in and made the big
[00:02:08] three pointer.
[00:02:10] Firstly, happy, happy birthday.
[00:02:12] We're talking to you for the past 10 minutes and completely forgot to wish
[00:02:14] you in person. Happy birthday, mate.
[00:02:16] Thank you. And going back to last week, it's still surreal,
[00:02:20] but I did pack myself
[00:02:23] team of the season, Harlan in an 81 plus player pick.
[00:02:27] And I still am in complete disbelief.
[00:02:30] Still, it just shocks me every single time I look at that picture.
[00:02:33] Still shocks me.
[00:02:35] I've never had this kind of luck.
[00:02:37] And it's just it genuinely felt bad for the first maybe
[00:02:41] day. I felt really bad because I don't I mean, no one deserves this kind
[00:02:44] of luck. It's just it's just it's just weird.
[00:02:47] It's a weird feeling.
[00:02:48] I wish I could say I was happy.
[00:02:49] I was of course, I was happy.
[00:02:50] But I think it's just that I like being the the troll at the end who doesn't get
[00:02:56] anything and it's just grumpy.
[00:02:57] I just I think I've just I've been used to that persona that I find it
[00:03:00] really hard to be on the other side of the fence.
[00:03:02] You know, I know exactly how you feel.
[00:03:04] And we've all been lucky at various times.
[00:03:05] You know, I'm very tongue in cheek here.
[00:03:08] Everybody deserves those monster pulls because it's what we literally what we
[00:03:11] play this game for that one moment where you're in disbelief or what's
[00:03:16] actually appeared. So Gigi, I mean, the obvious question for both of you is
[00:03:19] I mean, do they live up to the hype?
[00:03:21] Shaq, start with you.
[00:03:22] Is Harland that much above other strikers you've used?
[00:03:27] Look for the first 10 games, considering the gameplay this weekend,
[00:03:30] I thought this guy is completely rubbish.
[00:03:32] Well, he's OK.
[00:03:33] He scores a goal every now and then.
[00:03:35] But once the gameplay started getting a little bit OK and once I started
[00:03:39] getting used to him, he's bonkers.
[00:03:41] He's probably one of the best strikers ever used in any game.
[00:03:44] Not because I think I'm used to the kind of players that are very
[00:03:47] left stick, left stick heavy.
[00:03:49] They can do a lot of dribbling.
[00:03:51] He just barges through players like it's he probably will stay quiet
[00:03:54] the entire game and then come up with four goals at the end of the game.
[00:03:57] And it's just ridiculous how good he is.
[00:04:00] Yeah, he's phenomenal, especially if you like crossing.
[00:04:03] He's your man.
[00:04:04] He's incredible.
[00:04:05] And Nathan, is Virgil van Dijk doing his best to keep out such elite players?
[00:04:11] Yeah, so I think Virgil himself is unbelievable, although he's a Liverpool
[00:04:15] player, it's the troubles of person using him.
[00:04:18] I think that because he's such a good player, I can then waltz into any part
[00:04:23] of the pitch with him and still defend.
[00:04:25] So I get a little bit carried away.
[00:04:27] But he is very, very good.
[00:04:28] He's partnered with one Bissaka and the two of them are actually crazy
[00:04:31] fun with the sliding and the blocking.
[00:04:33] So he is good.
[00:04:35] He did have a game just before we came on against
[00:04:38] a team which contains the team this season, Highland,
[00:04:41] 97 Cruyff, the 94 on Rhee and had somebody else as well.
[00:04:47] But another one that you sit in going like, and they're all first
[00:04:49] owner, like ridiculous pack luck.
[00:04:51] And I'm like, what is going on here?
[00:04:52] And he actually marshaled the whole back line really well.
[00:04:54] And it was the first time in the whole week that I'm like, actually,
[00:04:57] no, you get used to the play style and the way it goes and that he is
[00:05:01] like insane. But saying that I would every day of the week trade him for a
[00:05:06] Highland, I would swap him with Shaq in a heartbeat just because Highland
[00:05:09] suits well both of our games, Dan, doesn't he?
[00:05:11] With the crossing and the big, big bullying striker.
[00:05:14] Like that's how we play.
[00:05:15] So but no, that's tremendous for you, Shaq there.
[00:05:18] And Dan, I'm sure Christiano Ronaldo is just around the corner for you this week.
[00:05:22] Well, fingers crossed.
[00:05:23] Fingers crossed. He is, of course,
[00:05:25] the marquee player in the mixed leagues team two, which was released over
[00:05:29] the weekend. We'll talk about that in just a second.
[00:05:30] But Shaq, I know you just mentioned about the gameplay over the weekend.
[00:05:33] I think we need to talk about it because I was away over the weekend.
[00:05:37] So I only returned to my console on Monday yesterday,
[00:05:41] but I think I picked the best weekend to be away.
[00:05:43] Nathan, I know you're away as well because the EA servers literally had a meltdown.
[00:05:47] We had people getting regularly kicked out of champs games.
[00:05:50] We had people just getting just randomly kicked out the games.
[00:05:53] And EA acknowledged that there was some
[00:05:55] instability issues, but it took Joel Dornan, one of the what is he?
[00:05:59] One of the key developers?
[00:06:01] Head developers, I think.
[00:06:02] Yeah. His own personal Twitter account had to tweet out a kind
[00:06:07] of an update and a fix that they had basically.
[00:06:10] It was classic old fashioned.
[00:06:11] We put a fix in.
[00:06:12] Can you please turn your game off and on again?
[00:06:13] And it should work. Classic IT 101.
[00:06:16] But I mean, just whether it's related to the fact that we had we did have
[00:06:22] a title update that was released last week and also the fact this game has
[00:06:26] now launched for I believe for free for people that are PS Plus members,
[00:06:32] which has its own issue attached to it as well,
[00:06:34] which we'll come into in just a minute.
[00:06:35] But I mean, Shaq, I said I was away.
[00:06:37] But just how bad were the servers this weekend?
[00:06:41] Look, on Friday, the game was literally unplayable.
[00:06:43] It was absolutely unplayable.
[00:06:46] Friday all the way through to Saturday.
[00:06:47] It was the game was glitchy.
[00:06:49] And I think I don't think anyone completed a full game on those 24
[00:06:53] hours where every time you get in, you would not only get a disconnect,
[00:06:57] but you would also get a loss.
[00:06:58] So the game is unbearable to play.
[00:07:00] And if you got through the game and somehow scored a goal,
[00:07:03] you would still get a disconnect and you'd get a loss.
[00:07:05] And that kept happening over and over and over again.
[00:07:07] It was just and it became really complicated because you just wanted to get
[00:07:10] in, finish your qualifying or finish your rivals or finish your champs.
[00:07:14] And it was just bad.
[00:07:15] It was really bad.
[00:07:16] They just kept going on for 24 hours at least.
[00:07:20] Yeah, just not not really good enough on what you want.
[00:07:22] And as mentioned, this game has popped up on PS Plus now.
[00:07:25] And the good news is if you are a
[00:07:27] PS Plus member, you play the game on PlayStation.
[00:07:30] Not sure you I mean, you pretty much have to have PlayStation Plus.
[00:07:32] I don't need to play online, but
[00:07:35] you've been given the PlayStation has been given an 11 rare gold player item
[00:07:40] pack, including two guarantees to be 86 and higher.
[00:07:44] The interesting thing with this is that they clearly stay on the text
[00:07:48] of this all items will be untradable.
[00:07:50] However, they've kept in that little tradable handshake symbol
[00:07:55] when you go to open the pack.
[00:07:57] And if you remember when this has happened in the past,
[00:08:00] they have compensated.
[00:08:02] Now, the only thing that that sort of holds me back from thinking that they will
[00:08:07] be granting compensation for this is the fact you haven't actually had to spend
[00:08:11] any money on it. So I think EA might decide to, you know,
[00:08:15] you haven't actively had to buy this pack.
[00:08:17] So I'm not sure where the compensation will be coming.
[00:08:20] No, in EA, they'll probably throw a piece of paper into the wind
[00:08:24] and see which side of the line it falls on, because some of the
[00:08:27] compensations we've had in the past, like there's been no rhyme or reason
[00:08:30] to it. Some spin ignored.
[00:08:32] Some you've had, remember, even was it last year with Peligate?
[00:08:36] Like there's been random compensation handed out for things that you thought
[00:08:41] don't deserve it and some things not handed out, which absolutely deserve it.
[00:08:45] So I'd be lying if I say I've got a feel of which way they'll go.
[00:08:49] I think it depends how much out raw they see.
[00:08:51] If there's a lot of stuff on socials about how terrible is that is wrong.
[00:08:54] I could imagine it would give it.
[00:08:55] However, I don't know if many people are going to grumble
[00:08:58] about getting two free 86 pluses that are tradable, because if somebody gets a blue
[00:09:03] you can sort of quid zonate you.
[00:09:04] So I wouldn't imagine that they wouldn't compensate you.
[00:09:08] But at the same time, I have absolutely no faith in how they decide what
[00:09:12] what does get and what doesn't get.
[00:09:14] Yeah, I mean, after the whole Toray and Schneider thing,
[00:09:16] where they were giving out millions of coins.
[00:09:18] I think again, like you say, the rule book is very, very flimsy.
[00:09:24] I'm just on the store on the beer store right now within EFC and there's no pack for me.
[00:09:30] So they probably have taken it away.
[00:09:33] Yeah, might have to go in and claim it.
[00:09:35] Look, we're recording this just before lunchtime on Tuesday.
[00:09:38] So this whole situation could well have been cleared up by them.
[00:09:40] But again, unfortunately, that will just add this to the mistake tally
[00:09:44] for the year, just throw it on their tap at this point.
[00:09:47] Let's get away from from bad stuff.
[00:09:49] Let's get into things we want to talk about, things that are fun to talk about.
[00:09:53] We have this mixed Tots League team coming out.
[00:09:55] We mentioned the main man, CR7, Cristiano Ronaldo, extinct at the moment.
[00:10:01] You can't get a hold of him deservedly.
[00:10:03] So, Nathan, because this card, although it isn't five five,
[00:10:07] it's an absolutely breathtaking card.
[00:10:09] I don't know how much more time to spend on it other than if you get
[00:10:12] this card, GGs. Yeah, it is incredible.
[00:10:17] He fits the matter as well in the way of FC 24 as well.
[00:10:21] He's just yeah, if I could get my hands on him, it would be amazing.
[00:10:25] But as you say, extinct 11.4 million console and PC.
[00:10:29] And he always plays well.
[00:10:31] His his best cards always play really well in FIFA anyway,
[00:10:34] regardless of the actual stats.
[00:10:35] And this will be one of those that will just have that glitchy physics
[00:10:38] that he'll just kind of get away from players.
[00:10:40] You'll get headers, you'll shoot.
[00:10:42] And I can imagine it'll be top corner every time.
[00:10:44] So if you get him, then I am incredibly jealous.
[00:10:46] And let's do a deal and swap.
[00:10:50] If only the trade office was still there.
[00:10:53] Shaq, only two or three other players above 100K.
[00:10:56] You've got Mario Balotelli, who's got, again, a really nice card.
[00:10:59] I mean, those people that was his winter wild card
[00:11:02] card that got really popular.
[00:11:04] This is 153K looks a fine card hasn't.
[00:11:07] I mean, the chemistry is a bit of an issue,
[00:11:09] but looks a very fun car with the trickster plus and the technical.
[00:11:13] Again, if you have to put the fun label on a card,
[00:11:17] I've said the word enough, it'll be on this card.
[00:11:21] Oh, look, I think he's got five star skills as well, doesn't he?
[00:11:23] And he's got a special celebration as well that you score the goal
[00:11:26] and go behind the net and he takes a selfie with the fans.
[00:11:29] And that's that's unique enough, I think, for a Balotelli.
[00:11:32] And I think Balotelli has always been a fun card to use,
[00:11:35] especially if he's got this five star skills.
[00:11:37] He's really good fun.
[00:11:38] Apart from that, I think one of the cards are really
[00:11:41] I'm hoping to pack is the Riyadh Mares card.
[00:11:43] That's a card that I really, really I've always enjoyed
[00:11:46] a good Mares card.
[00:11:48] And I don't think unfortunately this one's not a five star, five star,
[00:11:50] because if he was a five star, five star card,
[00:11:52] I'll go all out to try and get this card because his cards are always super fun.
[00:11:56] I think apart from that, I don't this I think Fred's a pretty decent card
[00:12:00] and I think I will get him at some point in time to try out as well,
[00:12:03] because I'm a huge Fred fan.
[00:12:05] Well, I wish he was still there at the club.
[00:12:06] But anyway, that's besides the point.
[00:12:08] And yeah, I think these are the three cards that I
[00:12:11] I'll definitely try them out during this week, at least.
[00:12:14] Yeah, all of them very fun and be good to use.
[00:12:17] I mean, Mares looks fantastic.
[00:12:18] I think literally I think it's just the links, isn't it?
[00:12:20] That's really holding it back from being, you know,
[00:12:23] it's certainly in the seven figure range.
[00:12:26] Otherwise, it's just a load of players, Nate, isn't it?
[00:12:28] That sort of 50K and under.
[00:12:29] I mean, Pepe looks good fun as a central defender.
[00:12:31] I mean, I love a player with Bruiser Plus, and he's got that and Ariel
[00:12:35] Invi, who joins us in the chat live,
[00:12:37] is pointing out that Veerman is good and he is holding his price
[00:12:40] a little bit above sort of fodder.
[00:12:42] He's just under 50K.
[00:12:43] Ninety three rated card from PSV, four star, four star.
[00:12:47] Could play any of these central midfield positions.
[00:12:49] He's got long ball plus ping pass
[00:12:52] and he's got the set piece
[00:12:56] play style plus as well.
[00:12:57] So that looks a half decent card check.
[00:12:59] Yeah, I think it's a decent card.
[00:13:01] Not one that I would just jump out to go by.
[00:13:03] But yeah, it does look definitely a decent card.
[00:13:06] Incisive pass, sorry, not ping pass.
[00:13:08] Always get those two confused.
[00:13:10] Yes, I think it's as if passes.
[00:13:11] It's actually a really fun place.
[00:13:13] He does have dead ball plus as well, which is a really fun place to have.
[00:13:16] I think dead ball plus is a must if you have you need to have
[00:13:19] at least one dead ball plus specialist in your club for those corners and free
[00:13:22] kicks. It just makes it just makes some goals really easy to happen.
[00:13:27] Yeah, and he was already another good point in the chat.
[00:13:29] Remember, of course, if you join us on our Discord or our Patreon,
[00:13:32] Patreon.com, four slash foot in review, you get to listen to the show live.
[00:13:35] As we record, we put the link out in the Discord.
[00:13:37] You can join us and you get to hear all the gaffes
[00:13:39] and the mistakes that get edited out by John.
[00:13:42] And he's made the point, why Leith Davis and Karl Walker-Peters
[00:13:46] top plus and players like Pavlovich have a Tonga knot?
[00:13:49] It's a bit strange.
[00:13:50] I don't really have an answer for that, Nathan.
[00:13:53] Any guesses or again, is this just the wheel of EA fortune?
[00:13:58] Yeah, I think it's just the wheel of fortune.
[00:13:59] I mean, when you look at Walker-Peters being being a plus,
[00:14:02] like that's a strange one, because I know there's not many players
[00:14:05] from like the championship, but he's got English links.
[00:14:08] So straight away, there's a lot of decent English players.
[00:14:11] Where as Pavlovich is a Serbian.
[00:14:14] I can't actually remember where he plays his football.
[00:14:16] But from Selsberg.
[00:14:18] Yeah, so he's in the Austrian.
[00:14:20] So both of those aren't over, you know, overhyped like leagues on nations.
[00:14:24] So you'd imagine that Pavlovich would be more appropriate
[00:14:28] to have the plus than an English fullback where you've just had.
[00:14:31] And especially at this time here, we've just had the Premier League
[00:14:33] and the Women's Premier League.
[00:14:35] It just doesn't make any sense, to be honest.
[00:14:37] But again, it's like we said before with the paper blowing in the wind,
[00:14:40] I think we're going back to that with EA where they just kind of decided,
[00:14:44] you know, eeny meeny miny moe.
[00:14:46] Well, here you go type things.
[00:14:48] Yeah. And again, some of these players getting two play style pluses,
[00:14:50] some of them getting three.
[00:14:52] I mean, Vatoga looks again really nice.
[00:14:54] We are just look, we are drowning in amazing players right now
[00:14:59] across all of these team, the season squads.
[00:15:02] The amount of players that are going for 20K
[00:15:05] that two months ago you would have said that's a half a million,
[00:15:09] you know, coin card is ridiculous.
[00:15:11] So the measuring stick has just gone so much higher.
[00:15:13] But look, it's great.
[00:15:15] Again, I say every week if you're starting a brand new account
[00:15:18] or if you're just in the mood to have fun.
[00:15:19] I know John was talking about on Friday how he's experimenting
[00:15:21] using different cards.
[00:15:22] There are so many you can use and most of these cards
[00:15:26] are not going to impact your competitive performance.
[00:15:29] There is not going to be a major drop off between a lot of them,
[00:15:32] especially when you compare these cards as well to cards
[00:15:35] that were before Team of the Season.
[00:15:36] I mean, look, there's going to be a big difference
[00:15:38] between Patongan and Van Dyke's Team of the Season cards.
[00:15:41] These are going to be a massive difference between Patongan
[00:15:43] and I don't know, the gold Virgil or, you know,
[00:15:48] Neymar and other defender, that bestow showdown card, for example.
[00:15:54] Like, like, no, there's just not.
[00:15:56] So go have fun with those cards.
[00:15:58] Best of luck if you do pack them as well.
[00:16:01] Let's move on Shaq to something I know you wanted to talk about.
[00:16:03] And, you know, I think there's been a love of mine all year.
[00:16:06] EVOs and they got turned up a bit of a notch this week.
[00:16:09] Oh, definitely.
[00:16:10] I think two of the EVOs have really struck a chord with me.
[00:16:13] The number one was the Tots EVO that was really, really popular
[00:16:16] released yesterday, and I think it made some really incredible cards
[00:16:19] with five star, five star.
[00:16:21] And I think that had really has really impacted
[00:16:24] the FC crowd, at least a lot of people have gone ahead.
[00:16:27] And as you can see, Gonzalo Guedes is completely off the market.
[00:16:32] He's really hard to snipe.
[00:16:33] I've been trying to snipe him and then gave up and went another way.
[00:16:36] And then lo and behold, packed him after I started the evolution journey
[00:16:39] with my Julian Alvarez from ages ago.
[00:16:44] I had a century version of Julian Alvarez
[00:16:46] that turns out to be a really good five star, five star striker.
[00:16:49] Then I started EVOing and then I packed Gonzalo Guedes.
[00:16:52] But by all accounts, it's creating some really, really mega monsters.
[00:16:56] And a lot of people are enjoying just creating these mega monsters
[00:16:59] because they are turning out to be pretty good in game as well.
[00:17:01] Along with that, we also have a Bundesliga
[00:17:03] Tots evolution, which is also really cool because you can upgrade people
[00:17:06] like Goretzka and make Goretzka almost, almost equal to the Goretzka team
[00:17:11] with the season moments card, which is I mean,
[00:17:14] the evolution version is not as good as the one that you get in packs,
[00:17:17] but you're saving yourself 1.5 million coins, which is incredible.
[00:17:20] If you have a Bundesliga squad, I strongly recommend you try
[00:17:24] and get yourself get your hands on a Goretzka card and EVO him.
[00:17:28] Yeah, there are so many different combinations out there, Naith.
[00:17:32] Are there any ones that you're working on or eyeing up?
[00:17:36] Not yet.
[00:17:37] I, Guedes is one that I kind of thought did think could be good.
[00:17:42] Also, just for my own sort of my United's ones,
[00:17:45] I was thinking about maybe Rashad, he still has a three star
[00:17:48] weak foot, which is a pain in the backside.
[00:17:50] But the rest of his like the rest of his stats is unreal.
[00:17:53] So maybe maybe I have him just as a super sub because you always,
[00:17:57] you know, you see Rashad coming on that pace will be outstanding.
[00:18:00] But there's not really many others that I'm going.
[00:18:03] I've still got the Premier League
[00:18:05] thoughts upgrade to do as well.
[00:18:06] So I can't even get my head around who to do.
[00:18:09] I've just been looking through Twitter or X and there's some good
[00:18:12] social accounts there that have kind of done a few changes as well.
[00:18:15] So they're some of them get even better than it looks,
[00:18:18] you know, on paper when you kind of look through them.
[00:18:20] So it's going to take me a wee while.
[00:18:21] And I know we've got our own group chat.
[00:18:23] So this I'll probably end up, you know, later on today,
[00:18:25] firing some firing some ideas and looking for,
[00:18:29] you know, yes, do that or don't be so flippin stupid here. So.
[00:18:33] Yeah, I think we point out the chat.
[00:18:35] Sorry, Shaq, love Romeo is another good one.
[00:18:38] His inform card goes to a 93 and pretty much
[00:18:42] pull it going plus there.
[00:18:44] Oh, I think personally, I'm quite jealous of the people that I have
[00:18:47] like like you, Dan, who have heaps of evolution cards
[00:18:50] just sitting in your club that can just be upgraded
[00:18:52] to the next level right now.
[00:18:53] I'm really no, no, I'm shaking my head here.
[00:18:57] And this was going to be my point after this is that actually
[00:19:00] and the Panthers who's been running a arsenal
[00:19:03] road to glory all year basically pointed this out.
[00:19:07] What they've done is that they've sandbagged
[00:19:10] a lot of the evos he did earlier in the year, because most of these
[00:19:14] evos required to have zero or one play style plus
[00:19:18] or only a certain number of play styles.
[00:19:20] So the ones that I evo from September,
[00:19:23] a lot of them are locked now because they've got certain attributes
[00:19:26] that are too high.
[00:19:27] They've got a certain number of play styles or play style pluses.
[00:19:30] And even though they might still be rated 75 to 84,
[00:19:34] I can't get into them.
[00:19:35] And again, the Bundesliga Tots is great.
[00:19:38] That doesn't really help me with my reading players.
[00:19:40] The Premier League one is great, but doesn't help my reading players.
[00:19:43] Most of these new evos seem to be targeted at
[00:19:46] people just picking up these gold cards off the market or maybe
[00:19:50] some of these informs that you're getting out the player pick.
[00:19:52] And it's brilliant for them.
[00:19:53] But we need we really need more evos that are just like
[00:19:58] Max 85 rated card, you know, and it gives you just like plus one
[00:20:03] plus twos across the board because I said, I'm just finding myself
[00:20:05] completely stuck about it.
[00:20:07] Sam Smith evolved to an 86 rated.
[00:20:10] I think he's the tranquilist, a time that was really God knows
[00:20:14] where January, probably February.
[00:20:16] I haven't been able to touch him since he's like a four star, two star striker.
[00:20:20] These 86 rated and Alan just doesn't fall into these.
[00:20:23] So is the first year of evo.
[00:20:26] So I understand this and it's a big learning curve, but it sucks
[00:20:30] that you're now sitting there thinking, oh, I don't want to evolve
[00:20:32] this player too high just in case.
[00:20:35] And as Invi points out as well, they found his evos
[00:20:37] used to have disappeared.
[00:20:38] You know, remember, that was a big selling point.
[00:20:40] Oh, you're a foot founder. We've had two all year.
[00:20:44] So where's that gone?
[00:20:45] I'm sure we'll get a third one at some stage.
[00:20:47] But as net was saying, what you really want to do is to have your Sam Smith card
[00:20:53] or whoever or you guys as United fans, you know, you can actually copy my new
[00:20:58] start them at a certain point and just have regular upgrades
[00:21:01] throughout the year to be able to keep that player going.
[00:21:04] Instead, as net pointed out, he's had like, oh, don't know,
[00:21:07] Gabby Hayes used to he's evoed, but actually it's just been
[00:21:10] they just get superseded by bigger cards.
[00:21:12] You can't just bring them play the players through.
[00:21:15] And you have to start all over again.
[00:21:16] So there are lots of things that you need to work on for evos.
[00:21:19] But look, I can't knock these specific evos because like you said,
[00:21:23] Shaq, there are some great combos being put out.
[00:21:25] The Gwedes is a card that, you know, would walk into pretty much anybody's team.
[00:21:30] The only thing is that I'd say, Nate, is again,
[00:21:32] I just have an attachment issue to a lot of these players.
[00:21:34] It just feels I have no real allegiance to Gwedes.
[00:21:40] So, yeah, he might be five percent better than.
[00:21:45] I don't know the Femi is easy though I've got might be ten percent better,
[00:21:49] but it doesn't to me.
[00:21:51] I would rather sacrifice that to have that little bit of an attachment
[00:21:54] to some of these players.
[00:21:56] Yeah, absolutely.
[00:21:57] There's a few good, like I say, there's a few good Twitter page
[00:22:00] and a couple of good websites as well, which you can check.
[00:22:04] Like, you know, your team's passing presence and what you can do.
[00:22:06] But you're right, they're missing.
[00:22:07] I do think they're missing a trick.
[00:22:09] And it's why I've been a bit hesitant in doing
[00:22:12] doing some of these evos as well, because, you know, like you do them there.
[00:22:15] Some of them don't even make your team like, you know, we say this
[00:22:19] squad battle warriors that that's pretty much what they are.
[00:22:21] And, you know, unless you're a top player, like these aren't going to help you.
[00:22:26] Sometimes they could even hinder you a little bit.
[00:22:27] So, you know, you want to have players that you're attached to
[00:22:30] and you've got a bit of passion for.
[00:22:31] But at the same time, you still want to win games as well.
[00:22:34] You don't want to, you know, be a little bit hamstrung
[00:22:37] just because a little bit sentimentality.
[00:22:39] And with evo cards as well, I mean, this is the age old saying within FIFA
[00:22:44] that not every card even stats have one thing, but the way the card
[00:22:47] is actually designed within the game, for example, Renato Sanchez, his guy,
[00:22:50] his stats are never, never over the top, but he is always incredible in game.
[00:22:55] There's something about the combination of the stats and
[00:22:57] and the physique and things.
[00:22:58] So I tend to just evo cards that I know I like,
[00:23:01] that I've used in the game, that I know I can get along with.
[00:23:04] For example,
[00:23:06] Julian Alvarez is a card that I've used in FIFA from the start of the game.
[00:23:09] I really enjoyed his body type.
[00:23:10] And that's the card I kept evolving every now and then when I had an opportunity.
[00:23:14] I would just jump in an evo or random card
[00:23:16] because I know the stats will mean nothing at the end of the day,
[00:23:19] even if he's 99 overall in everything,
[00:23:21] he still won't play it the way I want him to play.
[00:23:23] Oh, it's a bit tricky, though, with evos.
[00:23:25] And I'm really disappointed in what you've just told me, Dan.
[00:23:27] I really expect that this is a huge gift to all the people
[00:23:30] that have been stacking away, stashing away their evolution cards
[00:23:33] in their clubs just for this moment, where they can actually make them
[00:23:36] to the top level, which is logical in my head.
[00:23:38] But hey, yeah, I mean, I'm in a slightly different position
[00:23:42] because all of the players I want to evolve start at silver and bronze.
[00:23:46] And there's also not many, you know, we're a League One club now.
[00:23:49] I think Reading have, I think, something like 15,
[00:23:52] maybe 18 players in the game.
[00:23:55] So it's difficult for me.
[00:23:56] And of course, you've got the bug at the moment as well,
[00:23:58] where EA doesn't let you evolve the same player again.
[00:24:02] So I can't even, you know, I would like to say,
[00:24:05] start another Sam Smith and start him on some of these evos.
[00:24:08] So then I could have two sat in the club.
[00:24:11] And if an evo fits the right one, I could push the next one up.
[00:24:14] You can't do that.
[00:24:15] You can only have one in the club.
[00:24:17] So again, I just think there are lots of little things
[00:24:19] that need tweaking with evos, but I will give EA a little bit of leeway.
[00:24:23] There just needs to be a special section for evos.
[00:24:27] So you can put in evo players.
[00:24:29] You can almost, like you say, take off an evo
[00:24:31] if one's better and it suits it like, you know, some of them,
[00:24:34] you know, you get certain play styles or, you know,
[00:24:36] weak foot skill, move upgrades that you really want to keep.
[00:24:39] You should almost have, you know, like in a say, a career mode
[00:24:42] where you've got create your or pro clubs, you can kind of create
[00:24:46] and you can constantly change your player there.
[00:24:48] This would be the ideal place where you can add on and take off.
[00:24:51] So you're still getting rewarded for doing evos.
[00:24:53] You know, some of them you spend coins or points or whatever on.
[00:24:57] You should still be able to pick and choose what you want,
[00:24:59] but then tweak it so you can actually do certain upgrades
[00:25:01] and get the best chain and the best way for your players
[00:25:04] and reward the player base for actually going that extra mile.
[00:25:07] You know, they had a little bit of dedication there
[00:25:08] and they're embracing this new mode.
[00:25:10] That would be ideal.
[00:25:12] But again, like you say, first year doing it, then, you know,
[00:25:15] there's got to be a bit of teething issues, isn't there?
[00:25:16] Absolutely. And I'll give them that leeway.
[00:25:19] I think there's great ways for them to monetize it.
[00:25:22] I also think unfortunately, the community once again,
[00:25:25] and whether you want to blame the community or not, again,
[00:25:27] they found they found the exploits with the with the chained
[00:25:29] evos at the start of the year and ended up with 99 rated players in January.
[00:25:34] So you can absolutely understand why you're a little bit hesitant,
[00:25:37] because if people become aware of getting super juice players too early,
[00:25:42] is that going to impact pack sales and the idea?
[00:25:44] So I understand there's lots of different moving parts to go into that.
[00:25:47] But we will see.
[00:25:49] So yeah, lots of great options.
[00:25:51] So that evil album foot dot gg is fantastic.
[00:25:53] And I would recommend anyone that's doing serious evos to again,
[00:25:56] this is a free plug for them.
[00:25:58] Create an account, stash your players in.
[00:26:00] Even if you've evo players to a certain point already,
[00:26:03] you can fully customize them and just add them in.
[00:26:05] And it will let you know if they fit any future evos.
[00:26:07] So definitely recommend that going forward.
[00:26:10] No commercial break in today's show again, a little bit of a treat,
[00:26:14] because we will not probably not, as John mentioned
[00:26:18] with Chris and the on Friday, it is, of course, the big creep meetup.
[00:26:22] So people are going to be traveling.
[00:26:24] It's unlikely I've got work.
[00:26:26] It's unlikely we're going to have a show on Friday.
[00:26:28] There's a half a chance it might be on Saturday,
[00:26:31] but we don't want to commit to that.
[00:26:32] So you can expect to show this time next week from part of your regular
[00:26:37] Tuesday crew because the three of us aren't going unfortunately to crew.
[00:26:41] But crew to Crete, definitely a great crew either.
[00:26:45] You know, that'd be a slightly interesting meetup location,
[00:26:48] but, you know, we're not ruling anything out
[00:26:49] because the railway museum or whatnot.
[00:26:52] So there will be no Friday show this week and probably next week.
[00:26:54] But there will be a Tuesday show and we will catch you up on what I believe,
[00:26:58] gents is going to be Ligan team of the season as a bit of a change.
[00:27:03] Yeah, it's going to be a very intense one.
[00:27:06] Like the Bundes team, to be fair, has been, you know,
[00:27:08] they've set up from the Prem.
[00:27:09] We thought Prem was already like incredible, but,
[00:27:12] you know, Ligan's always one of those highly rated.
[00:27:14] The leaks are starting to come out today already,
[00:27:17] which is quite early actually for for the next week.
[00:27:20] Next week's promo.
[00:27:22] So that that could be quite good.
[00:27:24] There could be some seriously juicy cards in there.
[00:27:27] So the grind may well be back on.
[00:27:29] The menus are getting hit hard.
[00:27:32] Yeah, not quite the glamour, of course, with no Neymar and Messi
[00:27:34] in Ligan this year, but you've still got plenty of good cards out there.
[00:27:38] Of course, Mbappe is the golden goose,
[00:27:42] the one everybody really wants to pull.
[00:27:44] But as I said to you in chat, I think there are.
[00:27:48] I won't say what I said to you in chat,
[00:27:49] because it's not appropriate for a family friendly show.
[00:27:51] But put it this way, I said there is very little chance of one of us
[00:27:55] getting Mbappe.
[00:27:56] But then again, I thought there was very little chance
[00:27:57] of us getting Van Dyke and Haaland.
[00:27:59] And again, we've got two.
[00:28:01] We've got both those in this little trio of ours.
[00:28:03] So let's move on to the rest of the show.
[00:28:05] Of course, remember that the discord will still be remaining open.
[00:28:09] Of course, we'll have lots of Crete content coming across
[00:28:12] on all our channels and via the Patreon over the next few days as well.
[00:28:15] It's going to be absolutely fantastic.
[00:28:17] Can't wait to see what the guys get up to over there
[00:28:19] and who wins that the the illustrious.
[00:28:22] I know Maris has even got a trophy for it,
[00:28:24] but the tournament for all the all the the guys and girls going over there.
[00:28:28] So very much looking forward to that.
[00:28:31] Let's move on then to a little bit of mailbag.
[00:28:33] Of course, we'll have a bit of player in review
[00:28:35] to end the show as well in the mailbag today.
[00:28:38] He joins us in the chat.
[00:28:39] He's also asked,
[00:28:41] speaking of the evo, before we move on, should he do the winter wildcard
[00:28:45] is that or the Gwedes, which would you suggest, Jack?
[00:28:49] Personally, I think just looking at all the hype,
[00:28:52] I it depends on what exactly you're looking for.
[00:28:54] I think is that could be more of a physical presence,
[00:28:56] even though the body type of Gwedes does is not a left stick much
[00:29:01] lipstick merchant. If you like an exact, I would go with the exact way.
[00:29:05] Just just because I know that card is incredible
[00:29:07] and that card would be incredible in game.
[00:29:09] But again, Gwedes, I haven't used his gold version this year.
[00:29:15] He seems to be popular online, but I would still go with the sack.
[00:29:17] That's what I would go with.
[00:29:19] Fair enough.
[00:29:20] And the other point he asked is, have EA lowered pack weight
[00:29:24] during this Bundesliga team this season?
[00:29:25] Naif, what do you think?
[00:29:27] Yeah, 100 percent.
[00:29:28] I've been been hitting the menus hard with the player picks
[00:29:32] and the league SBCs, sorry, league specific upgrades.
[00:29:36] During the talks, the Premier League talks,
[00:29:39] I was packing every three or four pretty much.
[00:29:42] Fair enough, we're packing the same players,
[00:29:44] but I was still always packing blues, which then could get recycled
[00:29:47] like we spoke about last time into the exchanges.
[00:29:49] This time, they're so seldom.
[00:29:51] They are absolutely so seldom.
[00:29:52] But I think maybe the players that we've got actually feel better in game
[00:29:56] than the Premier League ones.
[00:29:57] So maybe they have kind of toned it down a bit.
[00:30:00] Even things like, you know, everyone gets a Cobel,
[00:30:02] like we all got Alison, but there's less Cobels than there were Alissons.
[00:30:05] And when I face Cobel in game, Cobel seems to be
[00:30:08] crazy good compared to Alison.
[00:30:09] Alison has one game where he's amazing and the next game rubbish.
[00:30:12] Cobel actually seems to be a very, very good keeper this time.
[00:30:15] So maybe that's a little link in into why the pack weight
[00:30:18] feels certainly a lot lower than it than the Premier League equivalent.
[00:30:22] Yeah, Shaq, John was saying on Friday show, wasn't he?
[00:30:24] That he actually thought he actually look at this squad,
[00:30:27] compare it to the Premier League player for player overall.
[00:30:30] This is probably a better team.
[00:30:31] So is that maybe as they said, is that the reason why you think
[00:30:34] the pack weight's been a bit down?
[00:30:37] No, I personally, I still think some of the Premier League
[00:30:40] concept we have are really, really good.
[00:30:41] I do I do agree with some of the sentiment that,
[00:30:43] yeah, we do think these guys are really good, like the frimpong
[00:30:46] and things are really expensive and really good in game.
[00:30:48] But the pack weight seems to be really low.
[00:30:51] I also think that everyone has exhausted all their packs
[00:30:54] saved with Premier League, so there's less packs being opened overall as well.
[00:30:58] There's a few people that still have 100 plus packs
[00:31:00] stored in their stores, which I don't really understand how that happens.
[00:31:03] But most of us have exhausted out a pack stash, as it were.
[00:31:07] So I think less packs are being opened,
[00:31:09] which is which is resulting in the less drop
[00:31:12] of all these team of the season cards.
[00:31:14] Having said that, I haven't really packed too many.
[00:31:17] To be fair, I've packed Koble about four times in the past 24 hours.
[00:31:21] So he is quite packable.
[00:31:22] But apart from that, I haven't really packed anyone else.
[00:31:25] It's just been I haven't seen a single blue come out apart from,
[00:31:28] I think, Koble.
[00:31:29] Koble is the only one that is consistently out of my packs.
[00:31:31] And yeah, the rest of them just are, yeah, completely
[00:31:36] really hard to pack.
[00:31:37] Yeah, I used to be leaning towards the women as well.
[00:31:40] Yeah. Most of the blues I've had have been the women's bundles.
[00:31:43] It's getting the actual sort of male bundles team is seems to be really, really low.
[00:31:48] And I think the fact that they've obviously gone on their cycle
[00:31:51] of the 80 plus pecs of the 81 plus pecs as well, even little tweaks
[00:31:54] like that means it's going to be even less of a chance from that slim possibility.
[00:31:59] Yeah, I keep getting Vegas Dossier, Krumbegel and the
[00:32:05] I want to keep saying Kirsten Dunst, but it's not Kirsten Dunst.
[00:32:07] Yeah, I keep getting Dunst popping out of my packs.
[00:32:12] So it's difficult enough of us.
[00:32:15] I'd love to know everyone's theory on how EA determined pack weight as well.
[00:32:19] I mean, we're going to do a feature at some point called FIFA
[00:32:22] fact or fiction that's going to be coming in in a few weeks
[00:32:25] when the content slows down a little.
[00:32:27] But I mean, Shaq, how what is your theory as to how
[00:32:30] do you think EA literally go to every card and go, right?
[00:32:33] You've got a 0.0001% chance of a.
[00:32:37] Cobel and a 0.0001% chance of a pender, etc.
[00:32:43] Or is it based on market value?
[00:32:44] How do you think that they that they determine it?
[00:32:48] I think the start off with exactly what you said,
[00:32:50] with percentages of drop weight and as it goes on,
[00:32:52] based on the odds of what cards have actually dropped in the game
[00:32:55] and the market value takes over and then the market value dictates
[00:32:58] the drop weight of these cards going forward.
[00:33:00] That's just my understanding, logical understanding
[00:33:02] of how the back weight actually works.
[00:33:05] But in reality, there's a lot of other features as well,
[00:33:08] like how long you actually engage with the game,
[00:33:10] what you're doing with the game,
[00:33:11] are you playing less of the game?
[00:33:13] Are you playing more of the game?
[00:33:14] Are you opening store packs?
[00:33:15] Another thing, fact or fiction.
[00:33:17] I'm putting it out there and team of the year,
[00:33:20] team of the season, Premier League Dots,
[00:33:22] I didn't open a single store pack.
[00:33:24] I didn't buy a pack of coins.
[00:33:25] I didn't buy a pack with dollars, nothing.
[00:33:28] I didn't even touch the store pack.
[00:33:29] Didn't even engage with a 20,000 coin pack,
[00:33:31] none of them.
[00:33:33] I didn't buy a single pack and you saw what my result was.
[00:33:36] Could that have a factor in what happened with my pack luck?
[00:33:38] I don't really know.
[00:33:39] It's a whole variety of odds that actually get into it.
[00:33:43] So it's the overall setting of what the pack luck should be
[00:33:46] and then there's other things as well,
[00:33:47] how much you engage with the game,
[00:33:48] whether you dropped off your engagement.
[00:33:50] You've heard a lot of stories where people walk away
[00:33:51] from the game for a month or two and come back
[00:33:53] and get some amazing pack luck,
[00:33:54] whereas you have people that come back from the game
[00:33:57] after a couple of weeks, months away
[00:33:58] and still get no pack luck.
[00:33:59] It's really...
[00:34:01] There is some method of the madness somewhere,
[00:34:04] but something we will never ever understand
[00:34:06] or get some clues on.
[00:34:09] Yeah, that would get...
[00:34:11] Oh, sorry, go on.
[00:34:12] No, I was going to say it's funny you should say that
[00:34:13] because there's definitely different ways
[00:34:14] because last week we were sitting on voice chat,
[00:34:17] weren't we Dan?
[00:34:17] And we were opening similar packs at the same time
[00:34:19] trying to get the grind.
[00:34:21] And I was like, right, I've got 83 and Dan's like,
[00:34:24] oh, I've just got an 83 best.
[00:34:26] And then it was like I've opened the Prem upgrade pack
[00:34:28] and I was like, I've got an 82 and 81
[00:34:30] and the rest are all rubbish.
[00:34:32] And Dan's like, I've got an 82, 81
[00:34:33] and the rest are all rubbish.
[00:34:34] So it's funny.
[00:34:35] Like I'm not saying they obviously know
[00:34:37] that we're speaking or whatever,
[00:34:38] but they could...
[00:34:39] Like we literally, if you press open at the same time,
[00:34:42] potentially it's the algorithm that whoever opens
[00:34:44] at this split second then gets that type of card.
[00:34:47] Like there's so many ways because we don't know,
[00:34:49] but that was really interesting.
[00:34:51] It was about a half hour period
[00:34:52] where I'd probably say three quarters of our packs
[00:34:55] contained not the same cards,
[00:34:56] but the same ratings, which was mental.
[00:34:58] That's...
[00:35:00] If you see some of the streamers as well,
[00:35:03] Dan, you'd probably attest to this.
[00:35:04] When you look at some of the streamers
[00:35:05] like run the foot market, he keeps talking about,
[00:35:07] oh, this guy's back weight is higher
[00:35:09] at this point in time.
[00:35:10] In the rotation.
[00:35:11] You see that in the rotation,
[00:35:12] that's exactly the words.
[00:35:14] And that probably is true because at some point in time,
[00:35:16] certain cards become more available than the other cards
[00:35:18] and there is some sort of science behind it all
[00:35:21] to make it, make the cards disperse kind of evenly,
[00:35:24] but not really.
[00:35:25] And yeah, that's a whole lot of things
[00:35:27] happen in the background.
[00:35:28] Again, we'll get into a lot of this much more
[00:35:30] when we do FIFA Factor Fiction,
[00:35:32] because ultimately we do not know the answers to this
[00:35:34] if and again, this is all just based
[00:35:37] on our own experiences and guesswork.
[00:35:38] But the one thing that I would be interested
[00:35:40] to get both your opinions on is if you...
[00:35:42] We talk about the doom switch,
[00:35:45] where basically the idea that EA literally have
[00:35:48] a big button or a lever
[00:35:49] that literally turns the pack weight of everything down.
[00:35:53] Do you two believe in that whole?
[00:35:56] EA literally have an algorithm that says,
[00:35:59] we're gonna drop the whole weight of everything down
[00:36:01] for these certain periods of these certain times.
[00:36:03] 100%.
[00:36:06] I could almost tell you when it drops as well.
[00:36:08] Thursday morning about eight o'clock when rewards are out.
[00:36:11] Like I know Shaq, you were lucky with a buzzer beater,
[00:36:14] but on the grand scale of things,
[00:36:16] like the amount of packs that we were opening,
[00:36:18] I think as soon as rewards hit,
[00:36:20] they do like massively decrease the chances of getting it
[00:36:23] because I very rarely pack anything
[00:36:25] on a Thursday or Friday.
[00:36:26] And I've started saving packs,
[00:36:28] part from Prem because I was obviously chasing the Highlands
[00:36:30] and the Garnacho, but I start saving packs now
[00:36:33] from rewards on a Thursday because your chances
[00:36:35] are a lot less likely.
[00:36:39] And if anyone wants to...
[00:36:40] Is that smart though?
[00:36:41] Sorry.
[00:36:42] Can you see the logic in that Shaq?
[00:36:44] And again, we're talking about that's how we feel it is,
[00:36:46] but can you see why EA would do that?
[00:36:49] 100%.
[00:36:50] I mean, we could just remember the time,
[00:36:53] the theme of the year, all the theme of the year is in packs.
[00:36:56] What happens?
[00:36:57] Thousands and thousands and thousands of packs
[00:36:59] are being opened.
[00:37:00] You would expect that at that point in time
[00:37:02] that people will be packing something with the other.
[00:37:04] And we can attest to it Dan,
[00:37:06] that you and me were trying to open,
[00:37:07] we had a huge pack, say we were trying to open packs,
[00:37:09] we were packing fodder left, right and center.
[00:37:11] As soon as 6pm hit from then on in,
[00:37:14] we didn't pack even fodder.
[00:37:16] Fodder was really hard to get.
[00:37:17] So there was a doom switch for it
[00:37:19] to adjust the amount of packs that they anticipated
[00:37:21] were gonna be opened in the next 24 to 48, 72 hours.
[00:37:25] And yeah, it happens.
[00:37:27] It's logical for them to do it
[00:37:29] just to protect their own player base, to be fair.
[00:37:34] Yeah.
[00:37:35] I do think that there is some sort of switch or setting
[00:37:39] because like you say,
[00:37:40] I think that they look at the volume of packs being opened
[00:37:43] and they don't want the market overly flooded
[00:37:46] at a particular point and things like that.
[00:37:49] But I think it's interesting we talk about the pack way
[00:37:51] in this team of the season, Bundesliga.
[00:37:53] You look at the prices of these card shack
[00:37:55] and we're actually again,
[00:37:56] we're recording this around lunchtime on Tuesday.
[00:38:00] And the prices are really coming down at the moment.
[00:38:02] A lot of players have had big drops
[00:38:05] in the past 24 hours.
[00:38:07] Now a lot of that will be weekend league sell-off.
[00:38:10] But if you look at Harry Kane for example,
[00:38:12] Harry Kane was 4.5 million at midnight.
[00:38:16] He's now down all the way down to 4 million.
[00:38:19] Yesterday he was at 4.7 million.
[00:38:21] We're seeing a big sell-off here.
[00:38:23] Is this just simply end of weekend league sell-off,
[00:38:26] start of league untots hype,
[00:38:28] or do you think maybe there is a little bit more supply?
[00:38:32] I think there's been a little bit more supply
[00:38:34] as opposed to the past couple of days.
[00:38:35] I think we were having a conversation
[00:38:36] with Nathan earlier as well that our pack weights,
[00:38:39] we're getting a little bit more fodder
[00:38:40] coming through the packs for the past 24 hours or so.
[00:38:43] So there must be a slightly higher pack weight
[00:38:46] at this point in time,
[00:38:47] plus the fact that the PlayStation pack
[00:38:49] came out of nowhere.
[00:38:50] That provides pretty large odds
[00:38:51] of packing something or the other.
[00:38:53] And there's other packs that are gonna come out as well,
[00:38:55] along with I think the team of the season guaranteed pack,
[00:38:59] not for the Bundesliga,
[00:39:00] but the other one comes out today if I'm not mistaken.
[00:39:06] And we have the Bundesliga guaranteed pack
[00:39:08] that will come out as well.
[00:39:09] And you would see that these prices will go down
[00:39:11] and I suspect they will start to creep back up
[00:39:14] after Thursday's rewards as well.
[00:39:16] And after that, what happens is really interesting to note.
[00:39:19] I think the supply on these Bundesliga cards
[00:39:22] hasn't been that high.
[00:39:23] So I think some of the cards,
[00:39:24] we will see some bounce back on,
[00:39:26] not as much as the Premier League cards though,
[00:39:28] but I'm really curious to see how some of these cards
[00:39:31] do over maybe a couple of weeks time from now,
[00:39:33] especially the ones that are really, really good in game.
[00:39:36] I would love to see how they end up,
[00:39:37] especially the Frimpong is a card that I'm tracking
[00:39:39] just to see what he does and if he's actually that good.
[00:39:42] Well, just a while,
[00:39:43] I've got you talking about the market again,
[00:39:44] another question live.
[00:39:45] If you tune in live,
[00:39:46] you get to ask these questions live and Yngwie asks,
[00:39:48] is it worth picking up Bruno Fernandes' live card now
[00:39:52] or will he drop more should United lose versus Arsenal
[00:39:55] and he won't get any upgrades at all.
[00:39:57] I mean, Nathan, you're easy on this
[00:39:59] because you've got an untradable one.
[00:40:01] But Shaq, is there an opportunity to pick one up?
[00:40:07] It's a really hard question
[00:40:09] to have the unbiased opinion on,
[00:40:11] but to be perfectly honest with you, stay away.
[00:40:14] This is an unbiased opinion, stay away.
[00:40:17] It's just not worth the risk,
[00:40:18] especially with the United card,
[00:40:20] the way they're playing right now against Arsenal.
[00:40:22] Look, more than likely we will just pick them
[00:40:25] just for the sake of it
[00:40:26] because that's the kind of team we are right now.
[00:40:28] But I still, if United lose that game,
[00:40:32] Bruno goes from 1.4 million straight to 800K.
[00:40:35] And if that's a risk you want to take,
[00:40:37] it's not really worth the risk.
[00:40:38] It's really not worth the risk,
[00:40:39] in my opinion at least.
[00:40:41] Yeah, I will say, Z does play fantastically well.
[00:40:43] So I wouldn't buy him,
[00:40:45] but I would certainly be waiting for just after the game
[00:40:47] or maybe during the game when United concede
[00:40:49] their probably 13th goal of the game
[00:40:51] or something the way it's going.
[00:40:54] I say that with tears in my eyes.
[00:40:55] But I've got a good chance he will plummet.
[00:41:00] Sorry, I get feeling that he'll plummet.
[00:41:01] So he's worth it.
[00:41:02] Like he is generally worth it.
[00:41:03] He's one of the best midfielders
[00:41:05] I've used all cycle.
[00:41:06] But as a trading point of view,
[00:41:09] like just don't until you're sort of either
[00:41:11] in the game when they're losing
[00:41:12] or just after game when everyone's sort of sacked off.
[00:41:16] Fair enough, fair enough.
[00:41:17] Thank you for both of your views on that.
[00:41:20] Let's just round off with a couple of the SBCs
[00:41:22] that released as well.
[00:41:23] Just see whether any of them were interested you.
[00:41:25] FootBirdday, Raoul, anybody?
[00:41:28] By all I can't, I heard it's really good,
[00:41:29] but just not for me.
[00:41:30] Five Star, Five Star, still not for me, unfortunately.
[00:41:33] I'm with you on that one.
[00:41:35] Clara Bull from the Bundesliga women.
[00:41:41] She's been released a 91 right left midfielder
[00:41:43] that can also play calm and left wing.
[00:41:45] Naith, I know you were half tempted by this one.
[00:41:48] I was tempted, but there's a few bits
[00:41:50] that kind of stuck out in the English,
[00:41:52] just put in the chat as well, bad composure,
[00:41:54] which is correct.
[00:41:55] I needed a German left winger.
[00:41:58] So I ended up going for Sani
[00:42:01] because he ripped me a pirate yesterday.
[00:42:02] And I'd seen a few reviews online
[00:42:04] that he was actually really, really good.
[00:42:06] And he's actually tremendous.
[00:42:08] I've had a really, really lot of fun with him.
[00:42:10] Yeah.
[00:42:12] Again, yeah, the 78 composure kills this.
[00:42:14] One of the playstyle pluses being flair
[00:42:16] is absolutely pointless as well.
[00:42:17] And the first touch playstyle plus
[00:42:19] isn't that good either.
[00:42:21] And then you got finesse,
[00:42:22] which is obviously very good in the right area,
[00:42:24] but a lot of myself included struggle to go out
[00:42:27] and get that player into that right position.
[00:42:30] So not the most ideal.
[00:42:33] Any of either of you tempted to do
[00:42:34] the Encore Hero Pack?
[00:42:37] No. No.
[00:42:38] All pretty much behind the curve.
[00:42:41] Lucio's up there.
[00:42:42] General is probably still,
[00:42:43] but apart from that,
[00:42:44] there's not really many there
[00:42:46] that stick out as being a massive upgrade
[00:42:48] on anything you can get for 20, 30K nowadays.
[00:42:51] Yeah, not bad.
[00:42:52] I mean, the price is okay.
[00:42:54] An 85 and 86 Red Squad,
[00:42:55] I think it's coming in about 75K.
[00:42:57] Don't think it needs any informs either.
[00:42:59] So pretty easy to craft
[00:43:01] with everything that's coming out right now.
[00:43:03] But yeah, especially because it's got
[00:43:04] the baby Galazzos in it as well.
[00:43:07] Just kind of dilutes that pack weight a lot more.
[00:43:10] So yeah, it's again, I think it's an SPC.
[00:43:12] One of those SPCs of last resort
[00:43:14] or maybe you're just absolutely bored.
[00:43:16] Why not give it a go?
[00:43:18] That just about wraps up the show.
[00:43:20] Aside from one thing which is,
[00:43:22] oh sorry Shaq.
[00:43:24] Just one more on the subject of SPCs.
[00:43:26] Just one other topic just to understand from your,
[00:43:28] just want to understand your takes on it.
[00:43:30] If you had a choice to get Team of the Year,
[00:43:32] Math House or Team of the Season,
[00:43:35] stand away.
[00:43:35] Who would your pick be?
[00:43:36] Regardless of value?
[00:43:39] Mateus.
[00:43:41] That's who Mateus.
[00:43:42] More for the icon link.
[00:43:43] Cause stand way looks very, very good.
[00:43:45] But I would think I'd need the icon link
[00:43:47] in that sort of position.
[00:43:48] I think they're fairly similar.
[00:43:50] Standway is probably better based like face stats,
[00:43:52] but Mateus just-
[00:43:54] He's got the source.
[00:43:55] Amazing.
[00:43:55] Yeah, he's got the source.
[00:43:56] Fair enough.
[00:43:57] Fair enough. Fair enough.
[00:43:59] But what I was going to say
[00:44:00] just before we wrap up the show,
[00:44:00] of course it is time for player in review.
[00:44:04] Which we haven't discussed beforehand.
[00:44:05] So this is going to be interesting
[00:44:06] to see which of the two of you jump on.
[00:44:08] So I will go first to,
[00:44:10] just to save you from this one.
[00:44:12] And the player I'm going to review is again,
[00:44:15] I also have slightly bad reviewing players
[00:44:17] that you can't get anymore,
[00:44:18] but a few people might have this player in their club.
[00:44:21] Torre, the defender that was in the showdown
[00:44:24] the other week,
[00:44:25] I think he's what?
[00:44:26] Six foot seven?
[00:44:27] Nine.
[00:44:28] Seven, nine.
[00:44:29] Six foot nine, is it?
[00:44:30] Nine.
[00:44:31] I played him through,
[00:44:33] I did a very, very quick weekend league last night
[00:44:35] when I got back from holiday
[00:44:37] and did it in space about two and a half hours.
[00:44:40] I thought this guy was immense
[00:44:41] and I put him into the Evo as well,
[00:44:43] the showdown series winner upgrade.
[00:44:45] Just fantastic for such a big player.
[00:44:48] He is so surprisingly agile
[00:44:50] and he just covers so much ground.
[00:44:53] That bruiser plus play style is just excellent as well.
[00:44:56] Yes, the pace isn't top tier,
[00:44:59] but if you are looking at just an absolute fun
[00:45:02] arcade style defender,
[00:45:05] go and do this.
[00:45:05] If you did this card as a bit of fodder
[00:45:07] and you've still got that showdown Evo,
[00:45:09] 100% endorse it.
[00:45:12] Just fantastic.
[00:45:13] So the two star, three star, again, not ideal.
[00:45:15] Medium, medium work rates.
[00:45:16] I didn't seem to notice too much.
[00:45:19] And again, I just,
[00:45:20] I've dropped SIE for this guy
[00:45:21] and I can't see myself going back on that.
[00:45:24] So yeah, if you have got him stashed in your club
[00:45:26] and that especially if you've got that Evo,
[00:45:28] go give Isaac Torre some love.
[00:45:31] He's humongous in game.
[00:45:33] He's, and he's really,
[00:45:35] I had a guy that played that he had Torre against me
[00:45:38] and he was really attacking with Torre as well
[00:45:41] because he's really strong on the ball.
[00:45:42] When he runs with the ball,
[00:45:43] you can't get the ball off him.
[00:45:45] From corners as well,
[00:45:45] he's devastating cause he's got that power head of plus.
[00:45:48] Oof, oof, oof.
[00:45:52] So there you go.
[00:45:53] If you've got it available.
[00:45:54] Nate, anyone you want to highlight?
[00:45:56] Yeah, so I'm going to go for Shula.
[00:45:58] I was going to do bunny face that replaced Drogba
[00:46:00] and we spoke about Van Dyke.
[00:46:02] So Shula, the female Bundes striker, she's 95 rated.
[00:46:07] Put an engine on her though, like pace is 99.
[00:46:10] Her passing's up at 87 with a short passing be 94,
[00:46:13] which is tremendous.
[00:46:14] Excellent dribbling, shooting.
[00:46:16] You don't actually really need to touch
[00:46:17] because I play a little on large.
[00:46:18] So she's my focus in the box and you know,
[00:46:21] position's 99 and finishing's 99 without touching it.
[00:46:24] So it's let down a little bit by long shots,
[00:46:26] but I don't expect her to be outside in that area.
[00:46:29] But she's got finesse shot plus, rapid plus
[00:46:31] and chip shot plus.
[00:46:32] And chip shots actually been tremendous recently
[00:46:34] because the way that teams are playing,
[00:46:36] if she breaks the line and rush to keep her out
[00:46:38] it's incredible.
[00:46:39] But her standard play styles
[00:46:41] are also very, very effective as well.
[00:46:43] So very, very good card.
[00:46:44] She's only 73 on console and 85K on PC.
[00:46:50] Very, very good value, good option as well.
[00:46:54] And especially for a 95 rated cards, it was tremendous.
[00:46:59] And Shaq, anybody you wanna pick up?
[00:47:01] I'll talk about a player.
[00:47:02] 97 pace, 96 dribbling.
[00:47:05] He's got 91 passing with a backbone
[00:47:08] and 91 defending and 90 physicality.
[00:47:11] This is fullback Sogynio Dest,
[00:47:14] who is absolutely incredible in game.
[00:47:17] Who's really, I think his price is a joke.
[00:47:19] He shouldn't be worth anything under 50K,
[00:47:22] at least 100K even.
[00:47:23] And he's got really good play styles.
[00:47:25] And then just bear in mind,
[00:47:27] I've replaced Shodown Mukieli,
[00:47:30] the upgraded version with Dest
[00:47:32] simply because I have the intercept play style
[00:47:35] with Dest and it works within game.
[00:47:38] It works really, really well in game.
[00:47:40] And that it pays to have your fullbacks
[00:47:43] or your defenders with some sort of
[00:47:45] defending play style along with a webcast.
[00:47:48] And his webcasts are brilliant.
[00:47:50] He's really good dribbling.
[00:47:51] I think just think of a Frimpong Light
[00:47:53] and you have it with Dest.
[00:47:55] He's 37K, he's cheapest chips.
[00:47:57] And best part is he's got the plus chem links as well.
[00:48:01] So he will work anywhere.
[00:48:03] He will give you a full chem wherever he is.
[00:48:05] Fantastic.
[00:48:06] Again, just one of the,
[00:48:07] so many good players.
[00:48:08] I mean, the two that you've just brought up
[00:48:09] and in tour A even was dead cheap as well.
[00:48:11] It goes to show you,
[00:48:12] don't have to spend an absolute fortune
[00:48:14] to have fun with some of these cards.
[00:48:15] So look, that will wrap up the show.
[00:48:17] Invi is a very quick one.
[00:48:19] He's just also said that the free Bowen card
[00:48:20] is really good.
[00:48:21] Surprised me, could play wide left and strike,
[00:48:23] he has scored quite a bit of goals for me.
[00:48:24] Well, he's wide, he's got pass plus to whippen crosses.
[00:48:26] Sounds like an ideal player.
[00:48:28] You're playing in like a 4-3-3 or a 4-3-2-1.
[00:48:31] Let's play that.
[00:48:31] So I'm not quite there yet.
[00:48:33] I've fallen a few days behind with my XP,
[00:48:35] but I'm looking forward to getting there.
[00:48:36] I have got Tezay.
[00:48:38] And actually tend to put Tezay
[00:48:39] in the live Tots Evo as well.
[00:48:43] Cause he looks like a good card
[00:48:44] that could do a couple of different roles.
[00:48:45] So maybe that'll be my player review for next week.
[00:48:49] But anything either of the two of you
[00:48:51] that you want to bring up before we saddle up and saddle off.
[00:48:53] No, just don't overdo your celebrations today, Dan.
[00:48:57] You know, it's at your age.
[00:48:58] It'll take a week to recover.
[00:49:00] So make sure it's fine.
[00:49:03] You don't go too overboard and enjoy yourself.
[00:49:06] Yeah, I'll save my comments for when the microphone's off.
[00:49:09] We're not putting out a family friendly show.
[00:49:13] Thank you.
[00:49:13] I have a question for you
[00:49:15] cause it's your birthday.
[00:49:16] Are you opening any packs in the store
[00:49:19] cause it's your birthday?
[00:49:20] Ooh, that's a good question.
[00:49:21] I don't think so, but maybe I will.
[00:49:24] Maybe I will, maybe I know.
[00:49:27] Nice.
[00:49:27] No, I've been soft banned so many times
[00:49:33] from the companion app over the last two weeks
[00:49:36] cause I grinded everything I had into the club.
[00:49:40] Players went into exchanges
[00:49:43] and everything went in trying to get one of those Prem Tots.
[00:49:46] And then of course we had the Bundesliga upgrade
[00:49:47] came out early and I thought,
[00:49:49] and again, I had been going back to League SBCs
[00:49:52] which keep you more financially stable.
[00:49:54] But I was just like, I don't have the patience.
[00:49:55] Let's just log everything in and try and get Harry Cade.
[00:49:57] And again, I've got absolutely nothing to show for it.
[00:50:00] But I think the good thing is
[00:50:02] is that my coin balance in general
[00:50:03] hasn't been going very far.
[00:50:05] So again, I can only praise EA
[00:50:07] for giving us this kind of a menu grind.
[00:50:09] It is there.
[00:50:09] Yes, it's boring and repetitive
[00:50:11] and it makes you want to bang your head on the desk
[00:50:12] after a while.
[00:50:14] But look, it's there if you want it.
[00:50:16] Just like we are there when you need it and want it.
[00:50:19] Please give us that five-star review.
[00:50:21] Please subscribe as well to the Patreon.
[00:50:24] Again, the Discord is now absolutely free
[00:50:25] but look, you get extra benefits
[00:50:27] from going through the Patreon including merch.
[00:50:30] Of course, the fantastic opportunity to go to Crete
[00:50:32] that is just about to happen that we talked about earlier
[00:50:35] and lots, lots more early access to tactics
[00:50:37] and lots of other goodies.
[00:50:38] And of course you get that extra warm fuzzy glow
[00:50:41] from knowing you're supporting this show
[00:50:42] and for in review.
[00:50:44] So patreon.com four slash foot in review.
[00:50:46] For that, the Discord link will be posted
[00:50:48] with this episode.
[00:50:49] And again, just a reminder, it's very unlikely
[00:50:51] we're gonna have shows on the next two Fridays.
[00:50:54] One might pop up by surprise
[00:50:56] but if you're wondering where the show has gone
[00:50:58] that is why we will be back
[00:50:59] or at least a couple of us will be back next week
[00:51:02] and we'll round up the start of League and Tots.
[00:51:04] Until then gents, only one thing left to do.
[00:51:08] Drop it.
[00:51:09] We're going to drop it.