FutBin FutDraft

This year in Fifa a new game mode was added, Futdraft. It is very popular and has blown up into a fan favorite. The goal of the mode is to build the best possible team you can. 

You are presented with 5 choices each round of people who you can add to your squad. There are 23 rounds so it allows you space to make changes in your actual squad. Each time you play it costs coins, 15000, which is a decent amount but, there are two big selling points that make people want to keep playing. Number one is that you get the opportunity to play with players that you otherwise wouldn't be able to. For example Team of the Year players such as Messi, Ronaldo, or Neymar are actually fairly common. The second is the prizes. Futdraft games are in a tournament format which consists of four games. Each game you win increases the rarity and value of the prizes you'll receive when you when. Four wins will win you the tournament and get you some pretty sick packs. 

People have turned futdraft into a competition to see who can build the highest rated team with 100 chemistry. People have managed to get up to 91 overall with 100 chemistry. Unfortunately for people that just want to build the team and not play with it, it costs 15000 coins to do one on the console. However there is a website that has a very similar futdraft simulation. futbin.com features an identical format to the futdraft.


I question a little bit how similar the selections are but overall it is very close to the real thing. I have been doing futdrafts on the website for quite a while now and have not been able to crack 89 overall. It's a very fun way to pass time and try to beat your record, but I get pretty frustrated when it only offers me silver players in a round. But the fact that it's a free simulation pretty much makes everything ok.

One of my best futdrafts so far

New Unis

Recently Fifa has been trying to go outside the box and enticing players to continue playing. One of the ways they have done this is by adding different rewards other than coins for completing various tasks. 

Originally they just had a jersey for winning the division 1 title. The jersey is pretty fresh. It's mostly black with some gold trim and "EA SPORTS" across the chest. I won these jerseys a few weeks ago and obviously had to make them one of my two kits. Before I had won it I was always a bit hesitant to play someone who was wearing this jersey. Because typically if you've won division 1 you're pretty good. So as I started wearing these I noticed people would leave the game more often because they knew I had won division 1 so obviously they would rather search for a new game without someone who won division 1.

More recently in honor of ultimate team's 7th year of existence they released a tournament with different prizes for each win. The first win was another jersey. Honestly I didn't even think this one was that sick but having it just gives you that status as a boss. I managed to win the tournament on my first try so I got the gold kit and then both my kits were ones you needed to earn which I thought was pretty cool. I tried to win the tournament again because you got better rewards each time you won but I just couldn't, I went into some kind of fifa drought where I just couldn't win a game.

I really like what Fifa is doing with rewards other than coins, it really does make people want to win these unique prizes that most people will not have. Unfortunately when I was using both these kits as my game kits, half of my games I connected to the player would quit after seeing I had one or both of these. So since I have changed to regular kits that you just buy with coins. 

I think it would be good if you were forced to use a light kit for home and a dark kit for away so that the opponent doesn't see your kit. And you also won't come up against a team with the same kit. This change definitely wouldn't come this year but it could be a possible change to next year if EA want's to continue making these cool rewards.

Im to da league

As you can probably imagine it's hard to play Fifa games all the time and not have it get bland. This has happened to me a bit so I researched for something else I could do that would maybe give me a more of a challenge. 

I found out about Major League Gaming. MLG is most known for games like Call of Duty and Halo but they do offer Fifa. The way it works is you can "Create a team" and its free so its very easy and then you can get matched up for games and the result will give you points to move up or down the ladder. At the end of the season, which is about 3 months, there is playoffs to see who the best player is.

I started a team and named it Bobito United. Immediately I could tell that it wasn't very popular because there were only two other teams searching for a game. I was looking forward to the competition and really trying to win. The set up for the ladder is unfair in a way because your team matters a lot. Since it is ultimate team you can create your own team to play with so even though one player might be better the other might win because they have a better team. I have played four games now and I think my team has been better most of the time.

As you can see I have won all four of my games and that was enough to get me all the way up into 5th place. I'm a big perfectionist so I'm gonna be pretty pissed if I eventually lose. 

I think what I'm gonna is finish his season and then go into the playoffs and try to win, but I don't think I will play this again after this season because its a lot of work just to play one game. And its really not that competitive clearly if all I had to do was win 4 games to move up to 5th place. So I guess after that I'll have to brain storm some other things to do.

Also my player career of Albus Dumbledore got deleted somehow so I had to restart it and now I'm at the same part I was at before so I'll make another pos about that once I play some more.

Look Forward to some more Career mode

As you remember I started a career mode a while back with Albus Dumbledore. Well I just went back and read through that post and it inspired me to go back to it because I think the mode can feel very personal which is fun. I also think you'll enjoy reading about this more than the usual ultimate team upgrades and run-throughs.

So in my next post hopefully we will get Albus to the top of the league he is in to show Van Gaal that he is meant to stay at the top of world football, and you know if Van Gaal doesn't feel that way we'll just have to speak with Ricardo, Albus' agent, to get transferred to a stronger team perhaps in a different league, or maybe a different team in the BPL so that we can get payback against Manchester United.

You es ayy

Every year I always end up making a team made up of USA players. There's not many options for creating a team, fortunately this year Fifa has added two new legends from America. One being Landon Donovan, and the other is Alexi Lalas. Lalas was a pretty controversial addition to the legends already in the game. Many people were disappointed because in real life Lalas was not that sick and that EA just thought that another good USA option was needed. For my team I did not have the funding to buy either of these legends so there is two silvers in their place.

So if you remember from my last post, silver players are actually usable and in this team it's hard to pick out the silvers/golds while playing. As you can see I also have two informs, Clint Dempsey(LS) and Fabian Johnson(LM) both were really quite cheap. It's hard to say if there are any standouts in the team. After about 8 games I would probably say Fabian Johnson and Michael Bradley(CAM). 

I was thinking about selling the team because it's not the most fun to play with because it's really pretty bad. Although I did win a few games in the higher divisions, I have way more fun using a good team. I would've been able to use the coins to buy some good players for my other teams, but I decided I'll keep it and maybe a nation tournament will come out and I can just use the USA team, plus I have to represent my country. If any players come out that I could upgrade the team with I'll probably get them. 

This Game Makes no Sense

What I am about to talk about is an issue which has been in Fifa for all the time Ultimate Team has been a thing. Now I have talked about how ratings work and everything but there are many times when it seems like Fifa says screw the ratings we're gonna make this silver guy fresh. This can be very fun in some cases because it makes these "bad" players actually playable. But this can be extremely frustrating on the other side of things when you can't beat a silver team with a full gold team.

This man here by the name of Alexander Esswein was the best player in Fifa 14. Better than Messi, better than Ronaldo. If you wanted to win all you had to do was put Esswein at striker and you're all set you're gonna win. Sure 91 pace is very good but other than that he is equal to or below average in every other stat. He just shouldn't be as good as he is. 

In my opinion I think fifa does this with many players to make sure there is variety. If they didn't allow silvers to be good then you'd be playing with and against the same teams every game. I honestly don't mind it that much I get more frustrated with some of the low rated golds which feel unstoppable because that just shouldn't happen. I actually made a USA team with a few silvers I will make another post about that soon.

Gareth Bale...

I have picked up my fifa playing again and I just had to write a post about the main man Gareth Bale. Gareth Bale is a Welsh soccer player who plays alongside Ronaldo at Real Madrid. Growing up not only a soccer star but also a track star his speed and stamina is second to none. I have had him in the squadron for quite a while now and my appreciation over the past few days has climbed exponentially.

Bale may not have the highest speed in terms of stats but he feels like the fastest player in the game. He will run past any defender in the game. His size is also pretty good too, he is not pushed off the ball easily. His skill moves feel really good too. 4 stars are very good combined with speed and size. 

Over the course of this year in Fifa Bale has earned himself not one but two team of the week cards. These cards have been boosted in the stat department and they look absolutely sick. I have been saving up some coins to maybe buy Messi and move Bale into the striker position. But now I am actually considering switching up where my budget is put. Bale's 89 overall card(+2 from his standard 87 card) is around 500,000 coins which is cheaper than Messi by a decent amount and I honestly think this card might be better. The only real reason why I would choose Messi over 89 bale is that it's Messi c'mon he's the best player in the world and that would be pretty fresh to have him on my team.


As I am writing this I think my decision on who to buy is changing. I can only imagine the wonders his 89 card could do for me. It will save me money and I guess Messi can wait.

TEAM OF THE YEAR!>

Within the next few days Fifa is announcing its team of the year. The eleven best players from the past calendar year. These cards will be the best in Fifa and they are going to be quite expensive. I am gonna run you through the past years team of the year and what we can expect for the 2015 team.

Fifa 13's team of the year was dominated by the BBVA. 11/11 players coming from the spanish league. Obvious inclusions are Messi, Ronaldo, and Sergio Ramos. The one player that stands out as a player you wouldn't expect is Falcao, the Atletico striker had a very strong 2012 season which catapulted him into this position. Today I could not see any possibility of him making a spot in a TOTY. I could see however any of these defenders making an appearance as well as obvious players in Messi and Ronaldo.

Here we have the Team of the year from the 2013 season(Fifa 14). It is a pretty similar team as Fifa 13 including 6/11 of the same players. I like this team because it includes some variety. Three leagues are showcased in this team of the year. New additions to this team were Ibrahimovic at striker, Franck Ribery at left midfield, Thiago Silva at center back, Philip Lahm at right back, and Manuel Neuer in goal. Neuer has managed to bring himself into the same category with Messi and Ronaldo. I would give him a pretty good shot to be seen again.

Here we have the team of the year from last year Fifa 15. Again Messi, Ronaldo, Ramos, and Iniesta make the team. We see reappearances from Phillip Lahm and Thiago Silva. Somehow we see a Arjen Robben's first appearance in the Team of the Year despite being a beast. This team of the year definitely will have some players in this years team. 

Here is my prediction for this years TOTY. All the players have been in a previous team of the year except for Neymar, Pogba, and David Silva. I am really hoping to get this right because futhead.com is having a competition with the top three winning TOTY players, and the top spot winning the whole team.

Be a Pro?

This week I did something a little different in Fifa 16. Fifa 16 offers another game mode known as career. When selecting career the first decision you have to make is whether you want to be a player or manager.

PLAYER
With a player career you create your own player and sign with whatever club you choose. Then you play in the games locked as your player. Every week you are able to different drills to build your players stats in shooting, passing, dribbling, defense, and physical.

MANAGER
With a manager career you create your manager and sign with a team. You are then in charge of all of your teams duties whether it be dealing with contracts, trades, or setting the lineup for the next game. As the manager you are able to put different players through drills and boost their stats. And you also have the choice to play as your team in the games themselves.

CREATION OF ALBUS DUMBLEDORE
I decided to go for a player career and my player, will be know as Albus Dumbledore, named after the great headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Being able to choose any team in the world; we wanted to head straight to the top. So Manchester United it was.

Being a forward Albus was excited to join the strike force of Rooney, Depay,  and Martial. However his dreams were quickly slowed when the manager, Louis Van Gaal refused to play such a young and inexperienced player and requested that Albus be sent on loan. Being loaned means you are still owned by the original team however you play for another team who has purchased your rights for a certain amount of time.

Albus received multiple offers from leagues below the Barclays Premier League. After initially refusing to sign with another club on loan, Albus eventually gave in to West Brom Albion.

After playing a few games Albus has felt stronger than most of the other players in the league. In my opinion Albus was ready for the big time. But he'll have to go through the lower leagues before he is reinstated at Manchester United.

HIGHLIGHTS
Dribbling is probably Dumbledore's biggest weak point right now, he started without any skill or ability but has recently broken through to the next level of skill dribbling which will definitely help in his quest to prove his worth to Manchester United.
As for goals Albus scored a fairly average 3 goals in 5 games, and recorded 1 assist. Not amazing numbers however with a very base player without any upgrades I am confident that he will soon become a serious threat in the lower league.

FUTURE
His obvious goal for the future is playing for the top club Manchester United, but his near goals include becoming the best player in the league. In order to accomplish this he will need to improve his ability and stats with drills, and perhaps with good stats in the league Albus will be noticed by the USA manager and be asked to play for the national team.

Fifa for Noobz

It has come to my attention that some of those who read my very popular blog may not actually know about Fifa and the world of ultimate team. So this post will help all of those people!

BASICS

The first thing you need to know about ultimate team is that every professional soccer player in the world has a card in ultimate team. And each of these cards has ratings. Ratings are given mainly for speed, shooting, passing, dribbling, defense, and physical, but there are tons of other stats that make up those main stats. Every player also has a main overall determined on how good his other stats are. 

Within ultimate team you can purchase players you earn through playing the game, and build a team with the players you own. There are a number of playing formats which will earn you coins, including tournaments, seasons, or just a single game.

HOW DO YOU EARN COINS?
Coins are earned after every game depending on performance, but there are a few different ways to play games.

Seasons
Seasons is a game mode within ultimate team. You have 10 games to determine whether you will be relegated to the lower division, stay in the same division, or be promoted to the next higher division. There are 10 total divisions. Everyone starts in division 10 and can work there way up to division 1. Winning a game will earn you 3 points, a tie - 1 point, and a loss - no points. Every division has a set amount of points needed to achieve each of the outcomes listed above. After each season you will receive a coin reward based on your performance, winning the title will get you promoted as well as receive the highest coin reward.

Tournaments
Another way to earn coins is by playing tournaments. You can enter a tournament and play, winning four games in a row will earn you the trophy of the tournament as well as a reward(usually coins but sometimes a pack<- more on packs later). 

Single Game
Single game is very standard and doesn't offer you much. If you play this you will only receive the coins you earn for playing the game, which you get for every other mode. So there's no good benefits for playing a single game.

PACKS
Packs can be bought in the ultimate team store. There are a number of different packs of different price depending on what is inside. In a premium gold pack(most popular pack) you will get 3-5 players and a number of random items such as contracts and jerseys. The packs typically never pay back for the price you pay to open the pack.

TEAM/CHEMISTRY
When building a team you need to keep in mind the chemistry of players. Players will play their best on the max chemistry of 9. To earn chemistry players need to be linked to other players from the same league, team, or country. Green links show strong chemistry, orange links show weak links, and red links show no chemistry. As you can see in the picture the links are all green and orange because the team is made fully of players from the same league.

DIFFERENT CARDS
Also something to keep track of are special cards. EA releases upgraded cards for different players that play well in real life. These cards are called informs. Their stats are slightly higher and therefor they are more expensive.

Gareth Bale!

In a recent post I pointed out that I did not have enough coins to buy subs for my Bundesliga side. Well here is the reason. Gareth Bale. He is the most expensive player to ever be purchased by a team in pro football. And he also asks for a very large price in Fifa 16 as well. After buying him for 430k he just barely exceeds the price of Ibrahimovic. Fortunately after playing a few games with him, I am much more impressed by his play compared to Ibra's.

Naturally a right midfielder, I have switched him into a more attacking role of right forward, and placed him at striker of my BBVA squad. He has definitely proved to be more affective up top than he was at right mid. His stats are so all around for a striker its incredible. He is nearly as fast as Aubamayang. His dribbling, shooting, physical, and passing are all over 80, the only stat not over 80 is his defending. The least important stat for a striker. His career started out with being a left back however so his defending stat is still quite respectable.

This guy can literally hit the ball with a big touch, run past his defender and get to the ball again. There are videos of him doing this in real life, and the game is no different. He has two of my favorite player traits in speed dribbler and long shot taker. Although despite his good shooting abilities I have preferred dribbling into the box with him and making things happen there. 

I am hoping his price doesn't go down too much because the expensive players are where you lose the most money. For now he will definitely stay in the squad, because I can't think of anyone in the BBVA worth replacing him with.

Back to my Old Ways

I know I said I was switching to a one team format, however I quickly found myself getting bored using the same players over and over. So to counter this I decided to make a second team. First I wanted to create the team with subs, but unfortunately my budget didn't allow for this. So for now we are playing back and forth. So while one squad plays, the other gets their fitness back up for the next game.

For my second squad I decided to go for a Bundesliga/German team. In a 4-1-2-1-2 formation I have set up the perimeter players from the Bundesliga, and I chose two German players from the BPL that I really like in Ozil and Schweinsteiger. The players calling for large prices were Aubamayang(right striker), Muller(left striker), Ozil(center attacking mid), and Schweinsteiger(center defensive mid).

Aubamayang with his 95 pace and good size and physical ratings are the clear reason for his 40k price. He has definitely proved his worth however with 8 goals in 8 games.

Muller on the other hand has not impressed me quite as much. With an asking price of around 26k you would expect a very quality player. But he feels a little sluggish and I have had a hard time getting any shots off with him.

Ozil and Schweinsteiger have held down the midfield really well. Ozil can dribble so fast and is so quick, that he has the ability to take it himself every time. While Schweinsteiger is able to play balls up and play defense when he needs to.

The squad feels really good after a few games. I have not lost many and with Aubamayang getting an inform this week I may look to acquire that at some point in the future.

Top 5 Players So Far...

Bobito United has gone through a few different teams. This far through the game I am bringing you my personal top 5 players I have used in game.

5. Carlos Vela

Carlos Vela's big win for himself is his dribbling and his finesse shots. It's very easy to go down the right wing with him and cut in on the baseline then place a finesse shot off the back post. To go along with all that 4* skill moves compliment his play nicely.

4. Konoplyanka

New to Fifa this year. This player has crazy skills for the game. He is rocking 92 pace which in Fifa is always somewhat important. In game he feels very quick, he also feels like a very strong dribbler. He comes in at number four because of those reasons.

3. Sergio Ramos

Sergio Ramos may be the best center back in real life and in Fifa he really feels the same. His defending ability is obviously superb, but he is also a threat in the oppositions box. He is a really all around player with 60+ shooting, don't be afraid to rip one with him. He is currently one of the most expensive defenders but the price tag is worth it.

2. Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Zlatan is just made for this Fifa. Big, strong, and good at dribbling and shooting. He is a dangerous anywhere within 35 yards of the goal. Take a long shot with him or play a ball over the top and let him hold off the defender and get on the ball. The only thing holding him back is really his speed. If EA had not dropped his skill moves from 5* to 4* I think he would be at number one.

1. Javier Pastore

When you see this name you're probably saying how could an 84 overall center midfielder be the best player in the game. Well until you use him you won't understand. Pastore has sneaky speed and can take a touch past a defender with ease. Then after that he can quickly put a long shot into the top corner. All that plus great passing, dribbling, and 4* skill moves, makes Javier Pastore the best player I have used in Fifa 16.

One Squadron, One Team, One Goal

Recently Bobito United has switched their strategy, and converted from a multiple team format to a single team which involves substitutes. In order to create a strong and united team the Bobito management had to choose from players of a single league or nation. They decided to go with the historically powerful Liga BBVA. A league which has had powerhouse teams such as Barcelona and Real Madrid.

The new team has a few standouts. Newly acquired Sergio Ramos, who came to Bobito United for a pretty high price tag of $96,000, was quickly given the arm band and is now the captain of Bobito United. His world cup victory and consistent Top 11 votes will surely back his performances in his new club.

Along with Ramos the team has an outstanding midfielder in Isco. The Spanish midfielder has proven he can not only create chances but he can also put his chances away.

Up front is Karim Benzema. The French forward is renowned for his abilities in front of the net. Last year he was one of the strongest players in the game and this year Bobito is hoping he delivers a similar performance.

Lastly on the wing, the game changer is Yevgen Konoplyanka. New to Fifa this year, his stats are promising with 92 pace and 77 shot.

Fut Draft Victory

Yesterday the Bobito United club went into a Fut Draft tournament where different players join together and play 4 games against other teams with different prizes depending on how far the team makes it. After drafting the team Bobito United had a average to weak looking lineup with the strongest player appearing to be Luis Suarez up top at striker.

The team drafted by Bobito United

Sanchez and Konoplyanka were the two wingers, both have shown to have terrific pace and Sanchez in particular is a very sought after player. But Bobito did not expect such a strong performance from his central midfielders. 

Parejo proved to be a very solid player in the center with his exquisite passing and his unexpected long shots. He was definitely one of the players on the pitch which led the team through his possessive abilities.

Surprisingly, considering the lineup drafted, Bobito United simply put, walked through the tournament winning 4 games, allowing 1 goal and slotting away 13. An unbelievable feeling for the management as well as the players. Perhaps this could be a future squadron of Bobito United. Who knows.

Javier Pastore Rips a Screamer!

This week Bobito United faced off against a strong squadron from the Liga BBVA. With two wins required for a chance at promotion into Division 5, the United Team was making every chance count. In the eighteenth minute a bad pass from the opposition led to an open look from 25 yards for none other than captain Javier Pastore.

Although Bobito's strong offense which included Lavezzi, Iturbe, and Correa were creating chances early on in the game, following the 18th minute goal, production slowed for the rest of the game. With the crowd cheering loudly for Bobito's first step for promotion to come true, the team buckled under the pressure as the opposition put in a late goal to tie the game.

Promotion will have to wait the next season to possibly come true. Perhaps the management will look for some new players who will be able to push the team over the barrier to break into the next division.

Bobito United Owner Wants Results

Owner Marcel Dornhelm

The Bobito United Owner, Marcel Dornhelm, has  made it apparent that he is not keen to losing. Despite winning the Championship in the teams first season Dornhelm does not like how the future looks if his team continues to play in the same form. 

The former Newcastle manager says that his ties to the Premier League will likely find him the players he needs to create a   division 3+ caliber team. He has brought up names of young players such as Yannick Bolasie, a left wing who currently plays for Crystal Palace and a upcoming central midfielder who is quickly making a name for himself in Kevin De Bruyne.

The future of Bobito United is looking positive. And there has been added talks about developing a second team that will play simultaneously with the other team. More on that in the near future.








Picture credit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcel_Iureș Goal: The Dream Begins

Bobito United Welcomes New Striker Pair

This week is the inaugural week of new club Bobito United. Management has finally been given permission to buy and sell players as they wish. With limited money the club has decided to use the majority to bring in a pair of strikers, Sebastian Giovinco and David Villa, both have had great success in past leagues and teams. 

The Italian known as Gio has spent much of his career in Italy's premier league, the Serie A, playing for both Juventus and Parma. Many believe the only thing holding him back is his size. Standing at just 5'4'' Giovinco lacks strength and ability when the ball is in the air. Despite these setbacks he is able to make it up with his quick pace and his shooting ability. At his former club, Toronto FC, the striker was able to slot away 17 goals and 13 assists in just 26 numbers.

On the right side Spanish striker David Villa, who many believe is nearing the end of his career, is looking to prove the skeptics wrong and show signs of his youth. David is not the fastest or biggest player on the pitch but his dribbling ability as well as his shooting instincts have been able to boost his career to a high caliber. He has played for some of the worlds best teams in Barcelona and Atletico Madrid in Spain. I got down to meet with the spaniard before the teams practice on Tuesday and in regards to Giovinco he had plenty of good to say, "I have played against him many times (most recently in the MLS), I think we will have solid chemistry and will compliment each others play styles."

Bobito United is hoping to have a squadron set up for upcoming matches scheduled at the earliest on September 24. The staff say that it is short notice to build a team this fast and they expect to have one ready to play however changes may be made within the early days of the season.