The new Ultimate Team (UT) season has begun, with the worldwide release of EA SPORTS FC 24. A new UT Season means a new beginning and many players, new and returning, may feel apprehensive as to how to start building their Ultimate Team.
What cards should I buy? How do I make coins and earn packs? How does Evolutions work? These have been some of the most common questions regarding the new game. Thankfully, it’s not as complicated as it seems.
What to Aim For
The goal of Ultimate Team hasn’t changed, it is to build the best team of footballers in a squad and to win with them in the most competitive of game modes such as Division Rivals and Champions.
You win more games and receive better rewards to upgrade your team further as the year progresses.
Building a Starter Team
So you know the goal of Ultimate Team, but what kind of team do you need to build at the start so that you can progress?
The answer is simple: a cheap and attainable gold squad with high chemistry, with cards possessing stats good enough to win you games in tougher modes; so high pace, dribbling, 5* skill moves etc, but costing quite little. These are called starter teams.
Every year, the UT community gets together to share their starter squads when the FC database is revealed, with certain cards that look to be game winners. Some of the most popular were:
- ST: Timo Werner (RB Leipzig) – 82 OVR (High Pace and Shooting)
- ST: Arnaut Danjuma (Everton) – 82 OVR (High Pace and Shooting)
- LB: Álex Balde (Barcelona) – 81 OVR (High Pace and Dribbling)
- CB/CDM: Emily Sonnett (OL Reign) – 82 OVR (All Rounded)
- CM: Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid) – 82 OVR (All Rounded)
These are just some of the hundred’s of gems who won’t cost more than a couple of thousand coins and are easily linkable, but could be the difference in many of the earlier games that you play.
How to Build Your Starter Team
So you’ve decided on a team for the bigger game modes, but you don’t have the coins or players for it. This is where a lot of players give up from confusion or poor decision-making. But with just a few changes, your Ultimate Team experience can drastically change.
To build your ideal starter team, use the cards gifted during the tutorial phase to complete certain UT Objectives and UT Moments. Completing these is crucial for the future of your UT club!
They can be found in Milestone’s, Seasonal Progress and Season’s tabs, as well as the UT Moments Game Mode:
- Score 100 – Score 100 Goals in any Ultimate Team Game Mode (RARE MEGA Pack)
- Finesse 75 – Score 75 Finesse Shots in any Ultimate Team Game Mode (RARE MEGA Pack)
- Power 50 – Score 50 Power Shots in any Ultimate Team Game Mode (MEGA Pack)
- FC Founder – Equip the FC Founder Home Kit and play matches to earn XP (5K XP)
All the rewards listed are of high value and provide players with loads of cards and consumables for their teams. The 5K XP from FC Founder is important as at Level 5 on the Seasonal Progress Tab, players receive a 80×10 Rare Players Pack. This pack greatly increases the chances of packing a great starter card or even walkouts.
The mentioned objectives are absolutes that players should aim to complete as soon as they finish the tutorial. They require little time, but greatly impact the quality of your team.
Additional objectives and modes that players should look to bolster their squads are:
- Moments – Foundations and Player Journey – Sam Kerr
- Foundations – Squad Maintenance, Club Maintenance and Foundation Moments
Moments is a brilliant way to earn decent rewards for very little time. Using the Seasonal tab in the Star Gallery, players can earn packs such as the 81x 3 Attackers Players Pack, and it wouldn’t even take more than half an hour. The Foundations tab in objectives don’t hand out amazing rewards, but most of them don’t even require any gameplay to complete, and considering it is the very beginning of the game, it’s worth checking out.
Make Use of Evolutions
The biggest change alongside the rebranding in UT is the addition of Evolutions and many have been wondering if they’ll play a huge part in team selection across the year. It is certain for now that at the start, it definitely benefits every player.
Strikers such as Timo Werner have been popular at the start of the game not just for how good their base attributes are, but for the potential upgrades they can receive through Evolutions. Some of the best ones for starting are:
Founder’s Evolution: An Exclusive Evolution slot for levelling up a striker rated Max 83 OVR. Increases all base attributes (except Passing and Defending) by +3, OVR by +2 and WF +1. Most popular players for this are:
- Timo Werner – Becomes 84 OVR. 94 Pace and 5* WF
- Darwin Núñez – Becomes 84 OVR. 94 Pace and 88 Physical
- Beto – Becomes 83 OVR. 89 Pace and 87 Physical
Pacey Protector: Boost your Center Back’s pace and bolster your backline, rated Max 80 OVR and Max 65 Pace. Increases all defensive minded stats by at least +3, Pace by +15 and OVR by +2. Most popular players for this are:
- Giorgio Chiellini – Becomes 82 OVR. 79 Pace, 84 Defending and 87 Physical
- Joel Matip – Becomes 82 OVR. 76 Pace, 84 Defending and 82 Physical
- Issa Diop – Becomes 81 OVR. Becomes 80 Pace, 82 Defending and 86 Physical
Welcome to Evolutions: Basic Upgrade to any player below 80 OVR, 90 Pace, and 80 Defending. Every base attribute upgraded by +1.
- Recommended to use 78-79 OVR or a personally liked footballer.
Golden Glow Up: Start your player’s Evolution Journey with a well-rounded upgrade across their attributes with any bronze card with no base attributes above 75. Upgrade in Pace by +5 and every other base attribute by +12.
- Recommended to use 62-64 OVR with 70-75 Pace with base attributes all above 55 or a personally liked footballer.
The options are endless with this brand new game mode. Check out this page for all the possibilities.
General Tips and Tricks
Some useful things to note when playing:
- Keep every card and gameplay orientated consumable – Will ensure players are prepared for any Squad Building Challenge (SBC) and hours of gameplay grinding.
- Discard or list every tradeable cosmetic orientated consumable (badges, kits) – no need for extra tradeable items in your club if not desired, opt for more coins. Some of these consumables sell for thousands of coins. Only keep them if you’re going to use them.
- Check and keep tab of SBCs you can complete with packed duplicates – There are upgradeable SBCs such as the Gold Upgrade that can be utilized instead of dismissively discarding.
- Check the SBC section daily – EA release content every day at 6PM GMT in the SBC section, like how on every Thursday they release the Marquee Matchups SBC which has been a staple in the community for its profitability.
- Play to Progress in Division Rivals – It’s imperative that players test themselves by using their starter teams in Division Rivals, it can be fun to get better at the new game and earn rewards, or even qualify for Champions, where the best rewards of the season are found. No point in building the Ultimate Team if you’re not using it!
Final Words
Many argue that the beginning of UT is the best part of UT, and it’s a fair point, given how fun the grind can be. Once the player understands what to do, their experience can drastically shift, and hopefully this piece has played its part in doing so.
Let’s hope for a fantastic start and year in the brand-new UT in EA SPORTS FC 24.
