FIFA 19 Ratings Refresh: The winter upgrades are coming in the winter refresh

In FIFA 19 the ratings refresh is coming. Many players will receive better standard cards. When do these winter upgrades come – what is the release date in FUT 19?

Update:

EA announces winter refresh – Update: On February 12th, EA Sports revealed the winter refresh. This event will include the Prime ICON Moments as well as the winter Ones-to-Watch. Additionally, many players will receive winter upgrade cards.

This is why there are winter upgrades in FUT 19: Unlike other game modes in FIFA 19, the FUT cards are not constantly adjusted to the real performances of the respective professional players. The standard cards are inflexible in this regard.

Some players do receive “in form” cards (IF-Cards) during the season, however, the stats of the standard cards remain unchanged. Only special card types, such as the OTW cards, adapt dynamically.

The winter upgrades only affect the “non-special cards” – and introduce some updated standard cards into the Ultimate Team mode.

Release date of the winter upgrades in FUT 19

Confirmed start: The first winter upgrades will come with the start of the winter refresh event on February 15th. That’s a Friday.

How does the release of the new cards work? In recent years, not all new standard cards have been revealed at once. Instead, EA Sports released “batches” of updated cards sorted by leagues gradually. These are the release times this time:

Winter Upgrades Premier League: February 15.
Winter Upgrades Bundesliga: February 17.
Winter Upgrades Serie A: February 19.
Winter Upgrades Ligue 1: February 21.
Winter Upgrades La Liga: February 22.
Winter Upgrades Rest of the World: February 24.

What are the winter upgrades / ratings refresh in Ultimate Team?

Twice a year, the standard player cards in FUT are updated:

When a new FIFA installment is released (in autumn)
and after the winter transfers, that is, in February.

These adjustments are meant to reflect the real performances of the players, which they showed consistently on the pitch in the previous months.

The term ratings refresh: Until FIFA 16, there were only “winter upgrades”. Player cards could only be upgraded, receiving only better values. I

In FIFA 17, there was then a change: winter upgrades were renamed to “ratings refresh”, which also introduced downgrades.

In FUT 18, the ratings refresh came again, but only with upgrades. Downgrades were dropped. The official term “ratings refresh” remained for the winter upgrades.

The ratings refresh only affects the standard cards (bronze, silver, gold):

Usually, the gold cards are upgraded by 1-2 points in rating. Silver and bronze players receive upgrades of about 4 points. In rare cases, improvements for bronze players can reach a whopping 15 points.

This is how you get an upgrade card with a higher overall rating

New cards replace old ones in the packs: Once the winter upgrade cards are released, they can be drawn from the sets. The only requirement is that the set can contain players. The “old” cards of the respective players are no longer available in the sets from that moment on.

FIFA19-tile-large-90-Reus-lg-2x — Reus will probably leave his 85 on the standard card behind

What happens to my old card? If you already own a card of a player who is getting upgraded, this remains unchanged. It will not be automatically updated. If you want the card of the player with improved attributes, you must draw it from a set.

It is also possible to acquire the winter upgrade cards from other players on the transfer market.

In other words: After the ratings refresh, two versions of standard cards of the respective player coexist in FUT.

How do the IF cards – the Informs – behave with the winter upgrades?

The “in form” cards, like the “Team of the Week” cards, are a bit complicated with the winter upgrades.

In short: If the new winter upgrade card of the player has a better or equal rating than the existing IF card(s), the IF cards will be automatically upgraded. These are to remain better than the standard cards.

However: If a player switches quality during the winter upgrade (e.g., from silver to gold) and the previous IF card was a silver card, it will remain unchanged.

An example of the IF cards of Aguero from the past (no current cards from FIFA 19):

The standard card at launch had a rating of 87. After the winter upgrade, Aguero received a standard card with 88. Since one of his IF cards already had 88, this will be increased to 89. His TOTW card, which was 89 – two points better than 87, will be to 90, to be again 2 points better than the new standard card.

By the way: IF cards are not only TOTW cards but also heroes and other special cards. The Scream cards are not affected.

More information about the ratings refresh:

Who determines the upgrades? A team from EA Sports. Last year, however, every fan could inform the developers of their favorites in a survey.
What do the new player cards look like? Like the previous standard cards (gold, silver, bronze). Players can change quality.
What is the difference between the previous standard cards and the new cards? The overall rating and the stats. Only in rare cases does the position change if the player has predominantly played in a new position in recent months.
What happens to the old standard cards? These remain unchanged. However, they are replaced in the packs by the new cards. That means, the old cards can no longer be drawn from the sets.
What happens to the existing IFs? These also receive an upgrade if the new standard card exceeds or matches the existing IF card in rating.
How long are the “ratings refresh” cards in the sets? Likely until the end of FIFA 19.
Can a winter transfer player receive an upgrade? Yes.
Are the winter upgrades the winter transfers? No, winter transfers occur before the winter upgrades. In the upgrades, neither club nor league changes.