Those who played Ultimate Team in FIFA 20 until the end have often encountered teams with incredibly strong cards. Never before have there been so many overpowered players as in FUT 20 – a circumstance that could become a problem in FIFA 21.
This is the situation in FUT 20: If you log into FUT 20 now, you’ll see teams filled with powerful cards. No wonder: Events like TOTY, TOTSSF, Summer Heat, and others have released cards that generally have values above 90.
The last few weeks made most of these cards easily accessible for players – which is fundamentally a good thing. You could obtain very strong cards relatively easily through SBCs, and icons were also easy to get. You can tell: FIFA 20 is coming to an end.
Given the approaching end of the season, it was time to take stock. How many player cards were there this year that broke the barrier of a 90 rating? Spoiler: A whole lot.
FUT 20 has even more top players than FUT 19
This is how strong the players were in FIFA 20: FIFA 19 already had more super cards above 90 compared to previous years. The situation last year looked like this:
- FIFA 15: 96 players with 90+
- FIFA 16: 168 players with 90+
- FIFA 17: 257 players with 90+
- FIFA 18: 461 players with 90+
- FIFA 19: 553 players with 90+
In FIFA 20, this number has now been surpassed again. Currently, there are a total of 765 cards in FUT 20 that are above 90.
There was also a small leap in the top ratings. A total of 11 cards received the highest rating of 99. These were:
- Lionel Messi (2 versions)
- Virgil van Dijk (2 versions)
- Cristiano Ronaldo (2 versions)
- Diego Maradona
- Pelé
- Kevin De Bruyne (2 versions)
- Robert Lewandowski
For comparison: In FIFA 19, there were only 7 cards with a 99 rating. In FIFA 18, there were only 4, and in FIFA 17, only 3.
How is that? When comparing FIFA 21 with earlier editions, it is clear that there are many more opportunities for player cards to be boosted through events. The times when there were basically only TOTW cards and strong Team-of-the-Season or -Year cards are long gone.
Meanwhile, there are all sorts of events that drastically enhance players. The Halloween cards received strong boosts, Future Stars make players who are essentially in the early stages of their development incredibly strong, and Summer Heat also distributed boosts endlessly. And that is just a small selection of card events.
These events are not necessarily tied to real performances. Just look at the Champions League card of Jann Fiete Arp at the end of this season: Arp only played in 3rd league for Bayern. Nevertheless, he ended up with a special card valued at 95 – out of nowhere. Suddenly, Arp was at the same level as absolute world-class players.
If everyone is awesome, no one is
Why is this a problem? Of course, one can also see the whole thing positively. For example, one’s favorite player can suddenly become useful in FUT – even if he is not performing well in real life. The realism goes out the window. However, EA Sports has made it clear that FUT overall is a fantasy mode, even in FIFA 21.
Yet even within the fantasy mode, the cards can lead to a problem, aside from the realism aspect. Because: The more unrealistic boosts there are, the more similar all players play.
Let’s take the pace rating, for example. FIFA players often look for the fastest players, as these can be absolute match winners. Even a few extra points in speed can make a huge difference. Currently, there are a total of 42 players in FUT who have the maximum speed rating of 99 – the differences, purely in terms of pace, are now minimal.
As this is a development that has intensified over the past years, it is to be expected that this will continue in FIFA 21. The new FIFA 21 ratings not only brought some surprises, but also leave room for many players to boost upward.
But the game should be careful here: If even more players receive crazy boosts this year, then more of them will play alike at the end. And then the thrill of searching for the perfect team composition is somewhat lost. Because if at the end every player has endless 99 stats, it becomes almost worthless.
What do you think? Would you be happy about more special cards – or should FIFA 21 tone it down a bit? You can find all the information about the release of FIFA 21 in the overview.
