The air is out with FIFA 23? Then why not change your team! For example, with your favorite players instead of typical top players. It might go badly, but it’s still fun – at least that’s what MeinMMO author Max Handwerk thought.
Division Rivals, Weekend League, Squad Battles, rewards, fast dribblers, high ratings, Chemistry – in Ultimate Team, it’s all about: the best team, the smartest tactics, the most wins.
And don’t get me wrong: It’s definitely fun to compete with strong players and play for rewards, constantly improving. But sometimes you just run out of steam. And then it’s time for experiments.
That’s why I called my best buddy during an online coop session. We thought: Let’s ignore the meta – not that we have even close to the best players in FUT – but let’s just put together a team of our personal favorites. Let’s see how it goes.
Spoiler: It didn’t go well. But I haven’t had this much fun with FIFA in a long time, as I did that evening.
No reasonable team in FIFA 23 plays without Ronald Araujo
This was our team: What we quickly noticed: As fans of well-played German second division football with an extended view of the Bundesliga, our personal favorite players somehow had little to do with the absolute top cards in Ultimate Team.
I, as a Hannoveraner, contributed Derrick Köhn and Sei Muroya as the two full-backs. And I won’t hear a word against them! Football gods! (With rather weak silver cards in FUT, I admit).
For that, I could not only place a former national player, Ron-Robert Zieler, in goal, but also a genuine TOTW card. Joining him were freshly minted national player Niklas “Lücke” Füllkrug and Gladbach captain Lars Stindl, while my buddy nominated Doan and Lindstrøm from Frankfurt. The TOTW card of the latter even had really good stats.
Up front, next to “Lücke,” was an absolute legend: backflip volley shot scissor-kick goal-of-the-year guarantee Zlatan Ibrahimovic graced us with 41 years and 58 speed, while Gvardiol was deployed in central defense.
Okay, we made two exceptions: A 90-rated De Jong made it into the team simply because it’s the best card I’ve ever pulled. And Ronald Araujo, of course – even though I have never seen him play. But anyone who plays FIFA 23 knows: No reasonable team plays without Ronald Araujo.
In short: We assembled a team that, in our eyes, could hold its own, one that would win the Champions League in real life at least. Maybe. At least it should definitely suffice for Division Rivals in Ultimate Team.
Or maybe not.
IBRA! Run already!
Let’s make it short: Apparently, stats, chemistry, and formation do matter, because it couldn’t have been our skills that led us to consistently lose with results like 1:4, 1:5, or (narrowly) 2:4.
You can tell in FIFA 23 that a card has only 58 speed instead of 93, or that the passing stat could be a bit higher. Also, that De Jong stood out in the team speaks to the fact that better cards in FIFA 23 are simply… better. Not much of a surprise there.
Moreover, it seems you only face top cards like Mbappé, Al-Owairan, and co. even in Division 6 now. But: a strong team wasn’t the point of the exercise, but a fun one. And that, in turn, fully succeeded.
Because even if we barely scored goals – we were so happy over little things. When a dribble worked, when our second division defenders stole the ball from Mbappé, when we {“text”:”foully tackled the opposing forwards from behind”}, glorious.
It hardly mattered that Ibrahimovic and Füllkrug couldn’t get away from the opposing defenders. We just yelled at the TV an amused “IBRA! Run already!”, did a heel trick, and lost the ball. So what.
Still, a shout-out goes once again to the FUT incarnation of Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Yes, he’s not quick in the game. But what a divine striker when he’s on the ball. No wonder he was responsible for most of the goals we scored.
Also, that’s one point: Every goal you ultimately score feels more worthwhile. Like the winning goal in the Champions League final. Even if it was only 1:4.
Conclusion: Anyone aiming for strong rewards or success in statistics should probably continue to focus on strong players in FUT. Perhaps the target group “favorite players” and “top players in FUT” overlap a bit more, when your own favorite teams aren’t floundering in the second division.
But anyone wanting to have a bit of fun and not take a few losses too seriously should definitely dive into the fray with friends and field a few “unconventional” cards. I can only recommend such an evening.
Do you also have cards that you field without looking at the meta? Tell us in the comments!
