As I said yesterday, it was a light day for FUTMAS, but the two player SBCs provided do at least pique the interest of many folks. Murillo looks like a relatively unique and pacey CB, and Rashford is a popular player who got a somewhat minor upgrade. Let’s dig in a bit more.
Jeison Murillo is the exact type of defender I like using in FIFA this year, so take that into consideration when reading my views on him. He did not get a loan option, so I had to just bite the bullet and pick him up, but I don’t regret it so far. I already had the RB Cuadrado, so this was a good link to that player. I also use Manolas, Juan Jesus and Koulibaly quite a bit so the links were not too bad for me. However, a Colombian in Serie A is overall going to be tough to green link when also factoring in his team.
Over his base gold card that does not even usually sell on the market, it’s a +5 overall. You get +4 pace, +4 shooting, +6 passing, +8 dribbling, +6 defense and +5 physical. That further breaks down to +3 acceleration, +4 sprint speed, +6 shot power, +6 short passing, +6 long passing, +9 agility, +9 balance, +9 composure, +7 ball control, +6 interceptions, +6 standing tackle, +5 jumping, +4 stamina, +5 strength and +5 aggression.
So why this card is cool is the balance and agility. The increased composure is also great, but he’s a surprisingly nimble 6-foot defender when on-ball. I like my backline to be active, so I think more than ever being able to include your entire team in the play is important this year, and so you can play more aggressive with this sort of defender. I felt like I could take more risks, and I could even push play with Murillo more than I would usually attempt with my CBs. I don’t necessarily recommend people play the way I do, but with FIFA gameplay being sort sloppy and reckless overall this year, I get the most enjoyment just throwing caution to the wind. Sometimes that means I push the pace with my CBs and let my central midfielders get deeper into the attacking zone.
It’s why I said I liked the Cuadrado card, and it’s why I like Murillo. He gives you options, and he’s still quick enough to recover on defense because the 85 strength and 86 standing tackle mean he’s still a good defender. He’s just more versatile than most CBs out there.
At 45-50K, it’s still not a bargain, but I still had untradeable IF/FUT Champs cards so it was cheaper than that price to knock him out.
Thankfully, the loan option is still available for Rashford (PS, the loan option should be a thing for all player SBCs), so I did not need to drop the 275K or so to complete his SBC. I’ve always liked Rashford as he feels a little better than he should be in FIFA games. He was a super popular player early in the year, and it was warranted. He’s also on an extremely popular team in the EPL, so I somewhat understand why EA made him so expensive. That being said, the cost is still overblown.
His base gold card is an 83 overall and costs about 6-7K. You’re getting +2 pace, +2 shooting, +5 passing, +4 dribbling, +2 defense and +3 physical. That further breaks down to +1 acceleration, +2 sprint speed, +2 positioning, +1 finishing, +2 shot power, +1 long shots, +5 short passing, +4 long passing, +4 agility, +3 balance, +3 reactions, +4 ball control, +4 dribbling, +3 composure, +3 stamina and +2 strength.
So at +2 overall compared to his base gold, there are actually some bigger changes than expected for his agility, balance and ball control. He also still has five-star skills with a three-star weak foot, as well as high defensive work rates and high attacking work rates. He also has the team player, flair and power free kick traits. The five-star skills are always nice, and he did feel a little stronger on the ball than I remember with his gold card. He was still burning dudes as well, and overall, he reminded me why he was so meta earlier in the season. The high-high work rates also reminded me why he does not usually make it through full games without needing a substitution.
However, even as I played out his three-game loan, there’s just no way I could see myself paying this much more for FUTMAS Rashford. I like the player, I wouldn’t disagree with someone who wanted to use him, but the value proposition is just too out of whack here for me.
