FIFA 23 has announced the changes for Ultimate Team. Among them is a significant overhaul: the old chemistry system will be removed, a new one will come into play. This brings much more freedom. Additionally, a new mode is coming.
How important the “old” chemistry was: The chemistry was the fundamental system by which you had to build your teams in Ultimate Team. Between all players standing next to each other on the field, there were individual connections that could vary in strength.
The chemistry improved the more of these 3 factors the players shared:
- Nationality
- Club
- League
The stronger the connection between players, the higher bonuses they received on their stats. At the same time, values decreased if the chemistry connections were incorrect. There was also an overall team chemistry that provided bonuses as well.
This chemistry system greatly restricted which players you could put together in your team. Thus, it has determined how the teams were structured in Ultimate Team for years. But this is now being completely rebuilt.
FIFA 23 Ultimate Team: How the new chemistry works
This is the new system: The chemistry will not be completely abolished, but significantly relaxed. There are no longer connections between the players standing next to each other on the field.
Instead, it is only important that a few of your players share the values nationality, club or league – where exactly they are positioned is initially irrelevant for the connection. Then they increase in chemistry level, with each player able to reach three chemistry points.
- An example: Your left-back can now build chemistry with your right-back, strikers can also link with goalkeepers.
- It’s only crucial for the individual players that they are in their correct position. So don’t put a goalkeeper in the attack.
Furthermore, all negative effects for your players will be abolished when the chemistry is “poor”. Instead, your players will now always perform at least as well as their stats indicate on the card – they are not weakened just because they have the wrong teammates. There are only positive effects for good chemistry.
This means: If you get a cool, new player that doesn’t actually fit in your team, you can still try him out relatively risk-free.
In addition, the position system will be slightly adjusted. Your players now have fixed alternative positions they can switch to – for this, there is a specific consumable item. This had already been leaked beforehand and is now official. You can find more details about it here:
What does this mean for the teams? With the new system, it is conceivable to build a team with three players from the Premier League, three from the Bundesliga, three from Ligue 1, and two from Serie A – or something similar.
You now have much, much more freedom than before, and can field powerful players across leagues and create crazy teams. The chemistry can no longer stop you from putting absolute top strikers like Mbappé and Ronaldo in a team. The problem is more that they will likely still be difficult to obtain.
Additionally, it will likely be easier to incorporate “unusual” cards. If there’s a really good player in the Portuguese Liga NOS, but you mainly play Bundesliga players? You can likely still incorporate him well.
At the same time, the new system also poses a danger: the chemistry has forced players to be creative to some extent. Now it could happen that everyone just tries to get and field the “strongest” players – without having to ensure that it still fits well together.
What about heroes and icons? These cards were very popular, especially because of their chemistry advantages.
Also in FIFA 23 heroes and icons are returning, but they will be slightly changed: Icons give players of the same nationality a chemistry boost, heroes boost players of the same league. But you no longer need them as a real “link”.
New mode promises quick rewards for little playtime
What kind of mode is this? In addition to the chemistry change, FUT will also receive a new mode called “FUT Moments.” It effectively consists of small game scenes that you must replay with suitable players.
This looks something like this:
Depending on how well you do, you will then receive “stars” as a reward, which you can redeem for rewards like packs and players.
These game scenes will be significantly shorter than regular matches and will also be based on encounters and moments from real football. This is somewhat reminiscent of the game “Score Hero,” a popular soccer mobile game.
This mode could become an interesting change compared to the usual Rivals, Squad Battles, and other modes.
What do you think of the changes in FUT? Are they for you, or do you not care for them? Let us know in the comments! And you can find our complete overview of the FIFA 23 release here.
