How to start well in FUT | FUT FIFA 17 Guide

Last update: 27 October 2016

Each player has to begin his adventure with Ultimate Team from scratch. Rising from the very lowest level and earning the first few thousand coins will be the most difficult. In this chapter you will find out how to achieve these goals, how to build your first team and if it is worth it to play the draft mode.

The EAS catalogue

The EAS catalogue is an extremely useful feature, especially at the start of your FUT career. It allows us to choose various rewards, from shoes and balls, through curios all the way to coins. How do you earn these rewards ? You need to have the appropriate level and total number of points, which you will earn while playing FIFA. The level is transferred from game to game, so if the player has already played FIFA 16 or the previous parts, he will be able to use the catalogue to an even greater advantage. However, brand new players will also find many interesting items here.

You can enter the catalogue, while being in the Ultimate Team menu by pressing the right analogue.

The most important bonuses for players are the coins. On the first levels you can purchase 200 premium coins for five, ten or fifteen matches. Then, after each game, apart from the standard coins, you will receive a bonus of 200 coins. In the beginning that can prove to be quite a lot. On the higher level you can acquire a premium of 1000 coins, which is quite a substantial aid. If you have a choice, use the 1000 coin premium first.

Historic kits and balls are the next important thing. Not just because they are pretty, but because they can be sold. Theoretically they can be auctioned, but the chances of someone buying them are very low, however, you can use quick sell. If you sell one kit you will only receive 62 coins. It is not much, but if you sell all of them, you might just collect a few thousand coins, which you can spend for a gold team.

Moreover, you can lend players here, as well as expand the transfer list and purchase a player contract card for 99 games.

Building the team

Your first team will have to be built around bronze players, acquired from packs. You can aid them with the players rented from the EAS catalogue. The better ones you can leave for your matches in the first league or tournaments, but you should not hesitate to use all of the ones ranked at 85 points or lower.

Do not go around buying bronze and silver players at the beginning, as it is not efficient in the long-term. Create your first team from gold, non-upgraded players. Make sure they are from one of the best leagues (Spanish, English, Italian, French or German) or from one of the best countries (Brazil, Argentina, Spain, France, Italy, England, Germany). When you assemble all eleven, you can upgrade them gradually, one at a time, in every position.

Remember, to keep the fitness of all of your players above 75. It is quite expensive, but there are a few ways of dealing with this issue:

- Team fitness cards - you have 11 players, who you do not substitute, but you apply the team fitness card once every four or so matches. This way you do not waste the coins on a larger amount of players, but you still suffer upkeep costs. What is most appealing in this method, is that you will always play with the strongest players.

- a secondary composition - you have a second team, from another league, and the players from the first composition are sitting on the bench to regain fitness. You have the opportunity to test a larger number of players.

- rotating players - you have around 18 players, who you can substitute for one another without losing chemistry. You change players between matches, allowing them to rest. You can also deal with contusions this way, without having to purchase healing cards. The fact that it is very hard to find the right substitute player for a given position is a definite drawback of this solution. It also will not work in hybrid compositions, where in a given position there must be a player of a specific nationality and league in order to maintain high chemistry.

Seasons

Playing seasons is the best way to begin. You only need to choose if you want to play online, or against an AI opponent. If you feel capable enough to stay at least in the tenth online league, while playing your team of bronze and rented players, than you should feel free to play the online mode. If, however, you struggle with playing a team with low chemistry and weak players, than you should consider playing the single player seasons. You will get a better feel of the game, earn a few coins and assemble a team, that will enable you to climb through the subsequent levels of the online league.

Draft

Draft is a mode, in which you create a team from chosen players form the entire game. In each position you have a choice of five different players. This can allow you to have players such as Messi or Ronaldo in your team, while you could not afford them in normal circumstances. The gameplay formula is a simple tournament, with up to four matches to play. For a completed draft you receive packs of increasing quality for each won game.

Is playing the draft mode profitable ? Entering the draft costs 15000 coins. It is worth it if you are a good enough player to win once in every few tries. Winning 4 games is pretty much a guaranteed return of your investment, even if you do not get any excellent players in your pack; if you win 2-3 matches and have a little bit of luck, you will be able to at least get your coins back. Remember, that the packs do not always contain players, but also single-use cards, such as play styles, contracts, position change cards or fitness cards. If you do not manage to win more than a single game, the chances for you to regain your founds are very slim. However, that does happen even to the best of us, which is why you should give yourself a few chances.

Drafting a team

While drafting your squad it is much better to aim for a composition with great chemistry than very good individual players. Choose the right captain and after the first three choices decide, which league, or which hybrid, you want to create. Premier League and LaLiga players show up most often, followed by footballers from Calcio A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1. You will face some hard choices quite often. You will have to pick weaker players, just for the sake of chemistry. To better understand this topic, read the chapter dedicated to chemistry.