Ultimate Team mode has long been one of the most popular features in EA's flagship football franchise. With FC 24 continuing this tradition, thousands of players will be jumping into FUT and building their dream squads for the first time. However, with so many competing game modes, market mechanics, and roster improvements to consider, it can seem daunting for newcomers.
That's why we've put together this in-depth guide covering everything you need to know to get your FUT career off to a great start in FC 24. By the end, you'll understand how to progress through each phase of the early game and set yourself up for long-term success. Let's jump right in!
Understanding Ultimate Team Basics
At its core, FUT is a mode focused on collecting players and competing and cooperating with others online. Here are a few key things to understand up front:
– Virtual Currency – Coins serve as FUT's currency and are required to open packs, bid on the transfer market, and more. Early income comes mainly from matches, objectives, and pack sales.
– Squad Building – Your aim is to assemble the ultimate XI across various positions using players from different clubs and nationalities. Individual and collective stats determine a player's on-pitch impact.
– Transfer Market – A marketplace lets you buy and sell players and items with coins. Understand supply/demand to maximize profits through savvy trading over time.
– Game Modes – Rivals, Squad Battles, Draft, and Weekend League facilitate competitive online play while SBCs provide new challenges daily.
– Rewards – Complete objectives, climb the Rivals ladder, or do well in Weekend League to earn packs, players, and coins geared towards your skill level.
The core promise is assembling the global superteam of your dreams. Now let's break down how to optimize each phase starting from a virtual zero balance.
Pre-Launch: Choosing Your Starter Pack
When first loading up FUT, you'll need to pick your initial starter pack to determine your starting 11 and finances. But which nation should you select?
Brazil and France are generally considered the best options since they feature some of the top talents right away who can compete. Neymar, Mbappe, Ben Yedder offer amazing value at the beginning.
But don't rule out other strong options like Argentina (Messi), Germany, Portugal or Spain either if you want players from those countries. Ultimately pick the one containing players you'd most like to use early on.
Your First Week: Complete Objectives, Play Games
The key in these opening days is acquiring coins through free and easy means like objectives and matches. Focus your efforts here:
– Foundation Objectives – Complete basic tasks to earn coins, packs and sometimes players.
– Squad Battles – Play the AI on various difficulties to earn points and rewards. Rookie difficulty games go by very quickly.
– Online Singles – Play a few online to acquire 500 coins per match. Friendlies don't impact your record.
– List Consumables – Price fix common items to make a few hundred coins from sales.
Doing all early objectives and fitting in 10-15 games during this period should net you 5,000-10,000 coins to use moving forward. Stay active for the best launch boost.
Understanding Transfer Market Mechanics
Once you've got coins to spend, it's important to understand how the transfer market functions. This is your gateway to making profits and improving the team further.
– There is a 5% EA tax on all sale prices. Factor this in to your listed bin values.
– List rare players during peak hours for highest chances of sale. Generally after content drops or weekends.
– Set minimum bid prices higher than buy now's, then bid snipe to pick up deals and make a quick profit.
– Monitor popular SBC solutions and invest in needed position/nation cards before SBC release for price spikes.
– BIN snipe desirable cards like promos listed for 100 coins. Be fast!
– Use sites like futbin to check current player prices and set your own worthwhile.
Mastering these techniques over time will let you continuously improve your coin balance and team strength. Come to see the market as your greatest asset.
The Bronze Pack Method: Always a Smart Strategy
For consistent low-risk trading during the early weeks, the Bronze Pack Method (BPM) remains incredibly effective. It works like this:
– Buy 750 coin Bronze packs from the store
– List everything inside up for 150 BIN (minimum)
– Common items sell within an hour, rares can sell for over 1k each
– With 12 items per pack, earning 1500+ coins profit per pack is realistic
– repeat continuously with profits and fill your transfer list
Early in the game cycle, Bronze cards are in high demand for League SBCs and Objectives. BPM guarantees steady 5-10k coin income per hour with zero risk. It's a must for kickstarting your FUT economy until you have 50k+ to work with.
Squad Building Challenges: Free Packs and Players
Once you've got the basics down, Squad Building Challenges offer fantastic daily rewards – but require investment. Here's how to maximize their profit potential:
– Complete easy beginner SBCs first for packs and special cards
– Chip away at active League SBCs. Stock up needed clubs through BPM in advance
– Have players from major nations like France, England, Brazil ready for cross-league needs
– Be ruthless – put non-rare cards into challenges you can't sell
– Buy solutions only from tradeable SBCs if profit is virtually guaranteed
– Save completed SBCs for promotions where pack odds improve
With diligent preparation, SBCs can represent incredible value in FUT – providing fodder, players and coins that shortcut the early progression grind.
Your First Weekend: Rivals and Squad Battles
Finally, Rivals and Squad Battles represent your main competitive game modes for acquiring quality packs through rewards each week.
In Rivals, just focus on playing your 5 placement games (quit if losing to avoid relegation). You'll earn rewards like 2-rare player packs just by participating.
For Squad Battles, take on the bronze squads first as they go by very quickly. Set distraction-free time to rack up points against the full squads as scores roll over daily.
Hit at least Elite 1 each week for rank 2+ player picks and tradeable packs to maximize coins. With 50 games, it takes some dedication but pays off immensely.
Conclusion – Setting Up For Long-Term Success
If you prioritize completing the above steps and optimizing each area of FUT across the first couple of weeks, you'll set yourself up perfectly moving forwards.
With diligent trading, match play, and objectives, 50k+ coins should be attainable to build a really solid starter squad. From there it's about continuing to climb Rivals/SB ranks, nailing SBCs, and thriving on the transfer market to steadily improve over time.
The FUT journey lasts months, so enjoy the process of team building and competition. With effort in the early stages, you'll enter the peak cycle months with a big advantage over those still catching up. Get grinding – the top 100 awaits!
