FIFA 18 tips: Getting started in FIFA Ultimate Team, FIFA Coins, card types, Squad Building and players
This is the essential knowledge you need to play FIFA Ultimate Team, along with the best ideas for constructing your squad.
What is FIFA Ultimate Team? Essentially, it’s a collectible card game in which every card is a player that can be added to your team. The basic goal is to build a team made up of the best possible players that you can then take online to defeat other FIFA Ultimate Team (FUT) managers to win trophies, prestige and the currency required to acquire more cards.
Think of it as a digital version of collecting football stickers, only in this case you can play actual matches using the players printed on those stickers.
To put it mildly, FUT can be daunting for players new to the mode and so we’ve put together a handy guide to help ease you into the process and prevent you making rookie errors that can slow down your progress.
This is the first part of that guide, and you’re best thinking of what’s here as an intro to the other sections that are more focused on specific ideas and elements of the game.
Ultimately, though, the best advice we can give for newbies is to experiment, be very careful with your in-game currency and don’t get disheartened if you don’t get Messi and Ronaldo in your team on day one.
After you’ve gone through the required logistical steps, such as naming your team, it’s time to start playing for real. You’re given a starter pack of 34 cards that includes enough players to put together a squad, as well as kits and badges for you to deck your team out to your own liking. Ultimately you want to be building the best team in the league, but you have to start small to begin with.
The players you’re given here are nothing special, so don’t expect to be playing as a World Dream Team from the start.
However, these players are good enough as a means to get you started on your journey. Our best advice at this moment in your FUT career: Do not play any matches yet.
Instead, focus on completing the objectives that act as a basic tutorial in how to play FUT and navigate its menus.
These provide worthwhile rewards at this early stage and allow you to start hoarding rewards and currency for the future.
You should also spend some time completing the new Squad Building Challenges. Your starter cards are more than adequate to immediately complete a good number of these and, again, they provide you with rewards that are very useful at this early stage – particularly in the form of FIFA Coins…
FIFA Coins is a form of currency that you earn by playing FUT, winning matches and completing objectives. FIFA Points is a currency that you can buy using real money with a view to building a great team more quickly. You don’t want to spend real money if you don’t have to, so we’ve put together a very efficient guide to earning coins quickly and easily.
Packs are your bread and butter when it comes to adding new players to your team – just like in other collectible card games, you buy packs without knowing exactly what you’re going to get.
Unless you’re made of money we’d recommend avoiding FIFA Points until you’re more experienced.
Not only are they not cheap, but you run the risk of wasting them if you’re not clued up on how the finer details of how FUT’s systems work.
Yes, we said you should experiment to get the most out of FUT – but you should experiment within boundaries that aren’t going to hurt you. Losing money in real life and wasting the return is going to hurt you inside and outside of the game.
There are four categories of card that you can obtain from packs: players, staff, consumables and club items.
Players are self-explanatory. Staff includes managers and coaches who boost your team in various areas such as goalkeeping or attacking, whereas consumables cover everything from healing injured players to extending their contracts. Club items feature the likes of new kits, stadiums and types/brands of football that give your team a visual identity on match days.
It’s important to make sure you’ve got a good range of staff and consumables in your pocket at all teams.
Without them your players are not going to perform to their full potential or, worse, you might find your star player’s contract has expired before a big game.
The players themselves are broken down into three basic classes: bronze, silver and gold. Silver players are more skilled than bronze, gold more skilled than silver. Your starter pack players will almost always be exclusively made up of bronze players. If you’re lucky you’ll have a silver or two included in yours.
To make you salivate at what your team might eventually look like, FUT gives you a selection of top players to add to your team at the very start. Don’t get too excited: you’re only getting this player on loan, meaning you can only use them in a limited number of matches and you cannot extend their contract.
It’s at this point that you want to start planning how you’re going to construct your team. In FUT you are looking to build not just a team of big names, but a team that has good ‘chemistry’.
Chemistry is the glue connecting players to one another; the better the chemistry the better the player will play in matches. You can read more about it in-depth with our FIFA 18 guide to chemistry.
Having teammates be of the same nationality or playing in the same league as one another achieves high chemistry. If they play at the same real-life club then that’s even better.
When picking that superstar player to get in on loan, then, you need to think about their nationality, league and club as they will become the starting point for future growth. Pick Dele Alli if you want to put together a team based around stars of the Premier League and/or the English national team, or Gareth Bale if you want to focus on the Spanish La Liga.
The earlier you start planning the fewer problems you’re going to run into later down the line in terms of team chemistry and maximising the players you’ve brought into your team.
FIFA 18 Ultimate Team Coin Tips: How to make millions through SBCs and silver packs
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Here’s how it works.
No one likes a gloater. So let’s get the bragging out of the way right now: last year I turned £12 into more than 12 million Ultimate Team coins across the course of the season. Now for the part that hopefully means you’ll forgive such overpowering smugness: I’m about to tell you exactly how I did it, so you can do exactly the same in FIFA 18 – in which I’m already 13 million coins to the good. Before we start, you can get 20% off FUT points in the Amazon Prime Day sale if you act fast — see below:
- Quick! Grab 20% off FUT Points for Amazon Prime Day (now £63.99 — was £79.99)
Never buy Gold packs
The most important piece of advice to heed, above anything listed below: never, ever, ever buy Gold packs. With real money or in-game currency. Because so many are opened across the globe, at all hours of the day every day, the market is constantly saturated with Gold cards, making most of them close-to-worthless on the secondary market.
Spend 7,500 coins on a standard Gold pack and you’ll be lucky to recoup half. Whereas Bronze and Silver packs guarantee you profit over the long-haul, thanks to Squad Building Challenges.
Using this method will, over time, enable you to cherry pick any player you want. I ended FIFA 17 with Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, David De Gea, Zlatan Ibrahimovic *and* those 12 million coins. And it’s all down to Squad Building Challenges.
- FIFA 18 career mode guide — negotiate, scout, and buy the best players
- 9 things I wish I knew before starting FIFA 18
- Free coins, TOTWs, SBCs: 7 tips to get the most out of the FIFA 18 Web App
‘SBCs’, as they’re known among the community, see you submitting teams according to specific requirements in order to earn rewards. This, rather than spending coins, should form your path to Gold packs. Every Tuesday evening, for instance, four Marquee Matchups are made live within the SBC framework.
Hundreds of thousands of FIFA addicts then hit the transfer market, seeking out the cards necessary to complete these Marquee Matchups SBCs. But if you already have these cards stashed in your club, you can complete said challenges for literally nothing, then make monster profits by selling your extra stock.
Essentially, every player card in the game will have value at some point of the year. And you should only sell these cards when that value is maximised.
That part is simple. Every Tuesday or Wednesday evening simply check the Marquee Matchup requirements, and list all players you have that match those requirements. Think beyond the clubs required, too: one recent matchup was based on Aston Villa’s fixture with Fulham, and required at least 6 English players to complete. As a result, most rare silver and gold CBs from England were worth upwards of 1000 coins. With 20 of those stashed you’d have been looking at an instant 20,000-coin boost.
Similarly, an Aberdeen vs Rangers SBC earlier in the season required at least two rare Scottish Premier League players to complete.
If, like me, you’d been hoarding that card type you’d have made a killing in the following week: I had more than 50 stashed in my club, all of which have sold for a minimum of 2,000 coins. A week beforehand you could have bought each for 300 coins. Throw in some silver and bronze defenders, and I made 200,000 profit in three days. That’s how effective this method is.
Below it’s explained in detail, and it essentially comes down to this: only ever buy Bronze packs, Silver packs, and discard in-forms, and enjoy the rewards that follow…
- FIFA 18: essential tips and tricks from the real experts (i.e. you)
- FIFA 18 The Journey 2 tips: ending, length, and all Ultimate Team rewards
Only buy Silver and Bronze packs
Never Gold. I’m repeating this because it’s critical. When you do buy Silver or Bronze packs, it’s safest to go for the standard versions: 2,500 coins for Silver, 400 for Bronze. I’ll get to what you need to do with these shortly.
If you’re feeling especially flush you can gamble on the premium versions of these packs: 3,750 for Silver, 750 for Bronze. These carry a much higher risk but also a higher reward: you’re paying the extra money for two additional ‘rare’ cards. If those rare cards are players, you’ll make even bigger profits; if they’re kits or badges, you’ll take a small hit. As a rule I switch to buying premium packs when I have 150,000 or more in the bank, then back to standard packs if my cash reserves dip below that value.
Decide if you’re going to do the league SBCs
The following leagues have SBCs where by completing one team you unlock a specific pack, and by completing all the teams you unlock a ratings-boosted player card:
— Super Lig (TUR 1)
— Liga Bancomer MX (MEX 1)
— Liga NOS (POR 1)
— Russian League (RUS 1)
— English Championship (ENG 2)
— Eredivisie (NED 1)
— Ligue 1 (FRA 1)
— Dawry Jameel (SAU 1)
— MLS (USA 1)
— Calcio A (ITA 1)
— Bundesliga (GER 1)
— Meiji Yasuda J1 (JAP 1)
— Hyundai A League (AUS 1)
— La Liga Santander (ITA 1)
— Premier League (ENG 1)
— Pro League (BEL 1)
If you decide to complete these, stash any players from that league in your club when you open packs.
When you have nine-or-more players for any of those teams, buy the last couple of players needed – Futbin is an excellent resource to help you fill in gaps – at the lowest BIN price and get it completed. That’ll give you a new pack and take you a step towards the overall player reward for that league.
I recommend gradually doing all the above league SBCs – this, rather than wasting money in the store, should form your path to Gold packs and cards.
What to do when you open a Silver pack
First, look for players from the above SBC leagues. So: TUR 1, MEX 1, POR 1, RUS 1, ENG 2, NED 1, FRA 1, SAU 1, ENG 1, GER 1, ITA 1, USA 1, JAP 1, SPA 1, BEL 1, and AUS 1. If you’re planning to do the SBC for any of the above, send any player cards from that league to your club. If not, place them on the transfer list.
Players from all other leagues should be stashed in your club until a Marquee Matchup, or other new SBC, comes up that requires them.
Send all Duplicate players to the transfer list.
List Player Fitness cards (+40) for one hour at 150/200. (150 bid price, 200 buy it now.)
List shiny Squad Fitness cards (+20) for one hour at 650/850.
Send all Healing (team and player) cards to the transfer list.
List shiny Manager Contracts cards for one hour at 150/200.
Send standard Manager Contracts cards to your club. *These are the only Manager Contracts cards I ever use.*
List standard Player Contracts cards (’10/10/8’) for one hour at 150/200.
List shiny Player Contracts (’20/24/18’) for one hour at 150/200.
Place shiny Kits cards on the transfer list.
Quick sell all standard kits unless you wish to use them.
Place Player Training cards for All Attributes, Shooting and Pace on the transfer list.
Quick sell all other Player Training cards unless you wish to use them.
Quick sell all Goalkeeper Training cards unless you wish to use them.
Place managers for the big leagues – ENG 1, FRA 1, GER 1, ITA 1, SPA 1 – on the transfer list.
Quick sell all other managers unless you wish to use them.
Unless you want them, quick sell all Stadiums, Badges, and Coaches.
Now go to your transfer list and cycle through all the cards you just moved there. Click ‘compare price’ and if there are a ton of the same card on the market at 150/200, also list at 150/200.
For cards listed at higher prices than 150/200, take note of the lowest Buy It Now price available, then list yours for a Buy It Now price of 100-200 coins more. So if the cheapest price you can find Emre Mor for is 1,900 coins, list yours at a Buy It Now of 2,100, with a start price of 100-200 coins less. The card likely won’t sell at the first attempt. But it should do within 24-48 hours.
Always list cards for one hour. The key to this method is keeping your list full, and refreshed, as often as possible.
Read more: 15 tiny, brilliant things you missed in FIFA 18
What to do when you open a Bronze pack
Again, look for players from the SBC leagues: TUR 1, MEX 1, POR 1, RUS 1, ENG 2, NED 1, FRA 1, SAU 1, ENG 1, GER 1, ITA 1, USA 1, JAP 1, SPA 1, BEL 1, and AUS 1.
If you’re doing those SBCs, send any player cards from that league to your club. If not, place them on the transfer list.
Players from all other leagues should be stashed in your club until a Marquee Matchup comes up that requires them, as discussed earlier.
Send all Duplicate players to the transfer list.
List Player Fitness cards (+20) for one hour at 150/200.
List shiny Squad Fitness cards for one hour at 650/850.
Send all Healing (team and player) cards to the transfer list.
Send shiny bronze Player Contracts cards (’15/6/3’) to your club. *These are the only Player Contract cards I ever use!*
Quick sell all standard Player Contracts cards, and both shiny and non-shiny Manager Contracts cards.
Quick sell all Kit cards unless you wish to use them.
Place Player Training cards marked All Attributes, Shooting and Pace on the transfer list.
Quick sell all other Player Training cards unless you wish to use them.
Quick sell all Goalkeeper Training cards unless you wish to use them.
Place managers for the big leagues – ENG 1, FRA 1, GER 1, ITA 1, SPA 1 – on the transfer list.
Quick sell all other managers unless you wish to use them.
Unless you want them, quick sell all Stadiums, Badges, and Coaches.
Now go to your transfer list and do the same as you did for silver cards on there. Many cards will only go for 150/200, but you only need to sell an average of three per pack to make a profit.
A note about packing in-form (TOTW) cards
If you pack any in-forms using the above methods and have no plans to keep them, DO NOT SELL until at least a fortnight later. While still in packs (from 6pm Wednesday to 5.59pm Wednesday the following week) they have poor resale value as everyone is offloading them at once.
Invest in discard-price Gold in-form cards
Once you pass the 100,000 coins mark, I recommended investing in 3-4 TOTW players between Sunday and Tuesday of any given week. To this, search for ‘Special’ players on the transfer market at a Buy It Now price of 9,400-10,500, then cherry pick any gold ones.
(You can *always* resell these players for at least 11,500 coins, sometimes much more – or, if you suddenly need funds, quick sell them to the CPU for 9,900, meaning any losses are tiny.)
I stash these purchases in my club for 2-3 weeks, then list for at least 13,000-14,000 – sometimes more, depending on comparative prices for the same card.
Check your transfer list regularly and ‘re-list all’ as often possible
If any Kits or Managers haven’t sold after you’ve been refreshing for 48 hours, quick sell them. For all other items, consider dropping the Buy It Now price by 50 coins after day one, 100 by day two, and so on. The exception is player cards listed at 150/200: just leave them on the transfer list at that price until they sell. Eventually, they will sell. And you should be very, very rich.
FIFA 18 is out now on PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch and PC. Need clarification on any of the above? Drop me a line on Twitter @BenjiWilson and I’ll do my best to elaborate.
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FIFA 18 Tips — Managing New Features
The FIFA18 Demo is now live and gives players the chance to check out all the new features, tweaks and additions EA Sports has made to the overall gameplay experience.
Consider the most interesting of them in this guide.
How to celebrate a goal
While FIFA 18 has a number of new celebrations, the one introduced last year has become incredibly popular. After it became popular in online gaming, it is back again.
If you played FIFA 17 last year, you already know how to do it. Just hold R1/RB and then double-tap the Triangle/Y button. This will make your player do a little dance celebration and some of your teammates will come and join you in your antics.
However, if you score with Paul Pogba, the celebration becomes much easier. Just press the X/A button and it will automatically do it as its signature chip. However, all others will require you to follow the previous method mentioned above.
How to Earn Skill Points
Whether you’re playing ProClubs in FIFA 18 or guiding young Alex through your second season of pro football in HunterReturns, you’ll need skill points. As the name suggests, this is the currency you will use to unlock stats and improve player stats in ProClubs or Hunter.
How easy is it to get skill points? The answer to this question is simple, but it will also take your time.
When it comes to HunterReturns, skill points will simply be earned by performing well in matches. Training exercises will also improve stats, but they do not reward you with points.
The same goes for playing ProClubs. You will earn these points just by playing matches and you can get them faster by finishing high ranked games. Match rating is determined by a number of things from the number of passes completed, the number of goals or assists scored, and the success rate of your interceptions. Even if you play horribly in every game, you will still unlock skill points in FIFA 18, just slower.
How to Score a Managed Goal
Managed Goal was introduced in last year’s version of the popular soccer game, and it has proven to be a key part of the game. It allows you to land a powerful shot past the goalkeeper on the ground, giving you a small chance to save the goal.
To execute a successful goal, you need to be somewhere in the center, preferably with a good line of sight to the goal. Then keep the B/Circle button pressed as long as you have time to hit. When your player is about to kick the ball, press the same button again to perform a guided goal. Your player will hit the ball on the ground while maintaining the maximum amount of energy you set when you first press the hit button.
Don’t be afraid to put more energy into your controlled goal than other types of shots in FIFA 18, because the more powerful it is, the more unstoppable it will be. However, keep in mind that if you do not hit the punch a second time, the force of your punch will be too strong and it will fly over the bar.
Managed goals have had a lot of power since they were introduced last year. They are very useful in the FIFA 18 Demo, so be sure to make the most of them in the full game.
How to Add Value to a Club
One of the major additions to the career mode in last year’s version of the game was the inclusion of goals set by the council of the club you manage.
These goals can range from better youth development to increasing the club’s value. Since this can be vital to the satisfaction of your advice, this leads to an increase in the allocated funds.
The most effective way is to get the maximum profit through transfers. If you have older players worth a lot of money, it would be better to sell them as much as you can and replace them with cheaper high potential players. This increases your club’s profit margin and increases its value. Make sure the players you buy have quality and potential, and low asking fees. Famous or young players are great options.
In addition, buying world-class players or developing young players in them will also add value to your club. This is because it will increase the money generated from marketing, shirt sales and ticket sales. All this increases the earnings and value of the club.
FIFA 18 — the game is another version in the FIFA series. Electronic Arts has made many important innovations, and it will bring great enjoyment to all fans of virtual football.
Particularly significant is the introduction of Real Players Motion technology, which controls the appearance, animation and behavior of players in the game. Although this technology mainly includes the best players, lesser-known players also behave more realistically, as the new system takes into account various factors.
Positioning and team styles in FIFA 18
Positioning and team styles in FIFA 18
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In addition to the players who rule football in life, in FIFA 18 we have added the famous styles of your favorite teams — they are more realistic than ever.
Now you’ll have more time on the field to read the game with new positioning, and unique team playstyles will unleash truly authentic tactics.
New positioning
The new positioning will give you more freedom of movement and players will immediately react to your actions on the field. Throw attackers into the gap or take advantage of the attack — the choice is yours. You will see players coming out of midfield and backing up an attacker, opening up for through passes and forcing the defense to err by playing double pressing.
Team styles
In FIFA 18, you’ll instantly recognize the most popular team styles in the game. Catenaccio, counter-attacking, fast passing or direct passing — you will see all the popular styles faithfully reproduced in the game and feel how the game changes every time different teams enter the field.
Dynamic Substitutions
For the first time in the history of the series, you will be able to make substitutions so easily — you will no longer need to pause to make changes to the composition.
Missed a scoring chance or want to score at any cost? Make decisions and make changes to your game without lengthy menu changes.
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