We’re mostly enjoying vacation right now at OS, but I still wanted to recap the last couple days of happenings in FUT as quite a bit has happened. Let’s start with the Mid Icons pack, and from there we will go to some of the other SBCs and objectives currently active in FIFA 20 FUT.
Mid Icons
ICON Swaps 2 starts today! #FIFA20 #FUT #FUTMAS pic.twitter.com/0jJdcnQuud
— EA SPORTS FC (@EASPORTSFC) December 26, 2019
We will presumably get at least 24 tokens again through the next couple months, and Essien immediately stands out to me as the top prize if you struggle your way through all the Icon Swaps objectives. I can’t personally make myself do the Squad Battles ones so I won’t make it to 21+ tokens, but I do think getting that Essien card is worth the grind.
The first six tokens are broken up as usual between online and single-player objectives.
Icon Swaps Online
- Bundesliga: Win 4 Rivals matches using 9 first-owned Bundesliga players in your starting squad
- La Liga: Win 4 Rivals matches using 9 first-owned La Liga players in your starting squad
- Three Lions: Win 5 Rivals matches using 11 English players in your starting squad, with at least 4 being first-owned
Icon Swaps Single Player
- Liga BBVA MX and MLS: Win 6 Squad Battles matches on minimum World Class difficulty using 6 Liga BBVA MX and 5 MLS players in your starting squad
- Saudi Professional League: Win 6 Squad Battles matches on minimum World Class difficulty using 11 Saudi Professional League players in your starting squad
- Gli Azzurri: Win 6 Squad Battles matches on minimum Legendary difficulty using 11 Italian players in your starting squad
As always, I’m not in love with the challenges for these objectives because they’re just not very fun to do, but this is not a new issue. So I’ve just come to accept the goals system for these tokens and just grind my way through the ones I can stomach.
Weekly Objectives
Week 2 is now up for this shortened Season 3. I’ve previously touched on the Holiday Season and what’s there so you can scope that out if you want to know about the rewards for this season.
EPL League SBC
I’m sure there is some anger out there that the two players available for the EPL League SBC are Max Meyer and Juan Foyth, but I would not be so quick to hate on these picks. Yes, they’re not the most known players, and they’re just 84 overalls, but Foyth is a very meta CB, and Meyer is going to be very strong on the ball. Overall, I think the league SBC players have actually been very good in total. FIFA is clearly targeting lesser known players for these league SBCs, which is different from past FIFAs, but the players have been useful on the whole.
On top of that, while the cost is around 246K, I would venture to guess if there’s any league where users already have a ton of cards in their binder, it’s with the EPL. The packs are not terrible either (at least not all of them). So I think the cost is probably closer to 125-150K when it’s all said and done.
FUTMAS Challenges
I have not kept up with the puzzle SBCs since Christmas, so there are two currently active.
FUTMAS Challenge (12/27) – Prime Gold Players pack
- Minimum 4 nationalities
- Max of 2 players from same country
- Minimum 5 rare players
- Minimum 6 gold players
- Minimum 74 overall squad rating
- Minimum 85 team chemistry
The cost of this one is about 6K right now on PS4, according to FUTBin. Also, for some reason the cards you get are untradeable for this one.
FUTMAS Challenge (12/26) – Premium Gold Players pack
- Max of 2 players from same league
- Max of 4 players from same nation
- Minimum 3 rare players
- Minimum 76 overall squad rating
- Minimum 90 team chemistry
The cost of this puzzle SBC is about 8K on PS4, according to FUTBin. This one was actually a bit tricky for me to complete, and I ended up needing to buy two players in order to make it work with the players I was trying to use from my binder.
The Return Of Old SBCs
Javier Mascherano is the big get here as he’s now back after people slept on him the first time around. He’s only about 22K right now, which is such a steal. This is truly one of the best values in FUT so far this season, and if you need a defensive-minded center midfielder, it’s hard to find a more reasonable selection than Mascherano.
Javier Mascherano
- Minimum 1 player from La Liga
- Minimum 1 player from EPL
- Minimum 1 in-form player
- Minimum 82 overall squad rating
- Minimum 75 team chemistry
Scream Milner has also returned, and his price is also much cheaper this time around. He’s only going for about 57K as of now, but I still am not going to do him at that price. The stats just don’t stick out to me.
Scream Milner
- Minimum 1 player from England
- Minimum 1 in-form player
- Minimum 84 overall squad rating
- Minimum 70 team chemistry
Weekly Updates
As always, we also received the Marquee Moments and Marquee Matchups for the week.
Marquee Moments – Small Rare Mixed Players pack
- Minimum 3 clubs
- Max of 5 players from same league
- Minimum 1 rare player
- Minimum 3 gold players
- Minimum 65 team chemistry
The cost here is about 3K, according to FUTBin. However, you should have no trouble doing this with players already in your binder.
Marquee Matchups
The overall reward for completing all four matchups in an EPL-centric week is a Premium Gold Players pack. The cost to complete all four is running about 30K as of now as well, according to FUTBin.
- Celtic vs. Rangers – Small Rare Mixed Players pack
- Minimum 1 player from SPL
- Minimum 3 nations
- Minimum 69 overall squad rating
- Minimum 70 team chemistry
- Brighton vs. Bournemouth – Premium Electrum Players pack
- Minimum 2 EPL players
- Minimum 3 clubs
- Max of 4 players from same league
- Minimum 75 overall squad rating
- Minimum 75 overall team chemistry
- Crystal Palace vs. West Ham – Gold Players pack
- Minimum 1 player from West Ham or Crystal Palace
- Max of 5 players from same league
- Max of 3 players from same nation
- Minimum 2 rare players
- Minimum 75 overall squad rating
- Minimum 80 team chemistry
- Arsenal vs. Chelsea – Rare Mixed Players pack
- Minimum 1 player from Arsenal
- Minimum 1 player from Chelsea
- Minimum 3 leagues
- Minimum 3 rare players
- Minimum 77 overall squad rating
- Minimum 85 team chemistry
