MUT22 - No Money Spent (Madden Ultimate Team) [Archive] - Page 2

QuikSand

11-05-2021, 12:52 PM

So, what happened today seems awfully predictable in retrospect. They release 64 new cards all rated 88, and all obtainable by completing a set of lower rated cards. We even got a screenshot yesterday of what does that look like… So it was pretty straightforward to know what cards would be the components needed for these sets. Turns out it was 1x 85-86, 3x 83-84, and 4x 80-82.

The central card here is the 83. You need three for the set. Lots of people are going to want to do those sets. They’ll need lots of 83 cards.

I had accumulated “a lot” of each of these cards over recent weeks. I had been buying 83 cards for under 7,000 coins.

Last night I opened up the market w my son, and we looked at the 83s… 7,500 … 7,800 … I held firm to my buy price of 7,000 and grabbed a few but declined to go whole hog.

…

And now today… the sets are out, the market is crazy. These new 88 cards are reliably selling for around 90-100k, mainly because the demand for 83s has inflated their price to around 14k each.

So.. cool that I built these sets 11 times and am on my way to selling them off at a nice profit. But when I sat there I easily could have bought, say, another 60 copies of those 83 cards for 400-450K and I’d probably be selling off another 20 of these 88s at a genuine profit of 25k each.

Anyway… I made a good hit out of a potentially great one. Sitting on about 2.6m, a new high for me, with a few more pieces outstanding to sell, so I’ll approach 3m. Not bad. More guts and I’d have cleared an extra million, maybe.

QuikSand

11-05-2021, 09:29 PM

Unexpected good news for my Browns theme team... the defensive player in tomorrow's two-player Legends drop is RE Willie McGinest, who played for the Browns a while after his NE time wrapped up. I have been itching for DL help... he's not really thicc enough to drop in as a DT, but it should give me another good piece to play around with. The 92-rated Myles Garrett still costs over 600K, so this guy coming along - maybe with a 92 card costing me more like 275K? - is awfully welcome.

And it gives me stuff to think about- how to juggle these guys, where to slot everyone, etc. The theme team doesn't account for very much imagination, so I'll take it where I can get it.

QuikSand

11-06-2021, 07:54 AM

3.3m heading into the weekend

QuikSand

11-06-2021, 09:47 AM

McGinest cards might be in high demand, by initial prices. Speed kills and he’s fast for a DE.

QuikSand

11-06-2021, 11:37 AM

Spent down to 2.4m, mostly buying components to build 12x sets of 88 Tesm Builders… trying to sell at 15-20k profit each.

McGinest will have to wait but he may drive down the price on DE Garrett…

QuikSand

11-06-2021, 01:34 PM

So I have the McGinest power up card revved to 91, and that’s good enough to start him at RE ahead of Garrett who moves inside to DT. Working on the McG set for profit and hopefully a 93 to keep and use.

QuikSand

11-06-2021, 03:44 PM

The high end cards for WMcG are still in short supply so by being patient and diligent I’ve assembled his 93 card once and sold it for about 60k profit. Have a second one up for 616k now, which would clear around 50k if it sells.

I’m not wealthy enough to just keep those cards and bump my 91 to a 94 but will get there in time. He looks very good fully powered up.

QuikSand

11-07-2021, 04:19 PM

Decided to take the plunge and max out Willie McG, still could sell back that 93 card if the market blows up, but i got good deals on the components to build the set for my third time and decided to stand pat.

Have been splashing around trying to buy low on some of the cards I'd want if I were to build out my Dolphins theme team. Several in hand and back on the block... i'm fine just flipping them, but also potentially okay if I "get stuck" with guys I need anyway for that other roster.

My plan had been to finish the challenges for the 92 Jaelen Phillips LOLB card, and start with the Miami team then. Fast forward through some insomnia, and voila I'm there ahead of plan. Brick by brick, the Dolphins' best roster will require a LOT of training, and several medium-price cards -- 90 or 91 guys including SS Eric Rowe, LB Robert Quinn, LB Kyle Van Noy, DE Ndamukong Suh, TE Mike Geisicki, and LY Laremy Tunsil. I'm inching my way there, and will then debate plunging in fully on WR Brandon Marshall to round out the roster, more or less.

QuikSand

11-07-2021, 08:10 PM

BRING ME THE DENZEL WARD TEAM OF THE WEEK CARD

QuikSand

11-08-2021, 01:59 PM

So, I'm making a play on the 92 WR Miles Austin set from Week 5's TOTW release. He remains popular - basically the same logic as what got me after Andre Rison: WR is a premiere position, Austin is 6'2" and pretty fast, he played for three popular franchises (DAL, CLE, PHI) -- and so instead of "training value" of around 200K, his card is routinely selling above 300K.

The set for him is part of the reason why... it's 12 total cards, including 3x of the 88 Marquise Brown which is itself important for a Ravens theme team, and is a pretty good (fast) card regardless. So, that card is selling at well over its training value, also, and it in fairly short supply. The 85 Ekeler card (you need 4x for the Austin set) is also useful for those at that level.

Anyway... I have been speculating a lot with the 88 Brown, but right now I am buying up both Brown and Ekeler cards with an eye toward a combined squeeze play: limit the supply of them and try to sell mine at a premium... and simultaneously build copies of the Austin card to try to sell them at high prices fueled by the shortage of the component parts which I am basically creating myself.

It's risky, a bit... but can be profitable if I'm reading the thin supply correctly.

QuikSand

11-08-2021, 02:01 PM

...plus, it's just a matter of time before these afterthought TOTW cards gain life again as the things you need to build the new Team Standouts sets, or whatever is the next franchise-based roll-out. Could come in a week or two, and sitting on a ton of otherwise mostly useless TOTW cards will pay off when suddenly everyone's out there tryna get the new bigshot 93 card for their theme team, etc.

QuikSand

11-08-2021, 02:09 PM

at this very moment, on XBox, there are:

88 Brown
71,000
72,100
77,999 (me)
88,888 (me)
88,888 (me)

85 Ekeler
24,250
25,000 (me)
26,600 (me)

...so I have bought up all the copies at reasonable prices (<60 and <20) and if you want to buy you almost have to buy from me. A patient market would wait it out and find a better time to buy, but... well, I'm hoping the market is impatient and fueled by the fact that the cheapest 92 Austin card is for sale at 344,000 right now, and these are the missing pieces for them to complete their set and sell their copy for a big price.

QuikSand

11-08-2021, 09:01 PM

BRING ME THE DENZEL WARD TEAM OF THE WEEK CARD

The top card for the week belongs to LB Josh Allen, who was a nightmare for QB Josh Allen. Cool, cool.

One of the historic TOTW guys, though, is a 93 rated RB Willis McGahee, who oddly enough rounded out a nice career with a stinker quarter season in Cleveland. So, we could go get him, perhaps - there will be a set to build him, he'll need a power-up to get CLE chem. But honestly, RB is on the short list of positions we really did not need.

Hard to complain, but... meh.

QuikSand

11-09-2021, 07:16 AM

Market seems settled around a training price of 15, easy to remember and calculate. So, frex, a 90 rated player quicksells for 5,000 training… so if he has no other real value, I should be open to buying around 75,000 gold, knowing that I’m at least getting a good deal on the training units.

That ratio was more or less 20 for quite some time, so I’ll be mentally readjusting.

QuikSand

11-10-2021, 10:01 AM

CB Troy Hill got an 82 card in the TOTW batch this week, I’ll take it he’s on the field as my CB4. Hoping this points to a big Denzel Ward forthcoming.

But ohhhhhh very exciting, while I was distracted they’ve put out a 91 Rising Stars card for my Browns CB Greedy Williams. Bingo! And I think I can get him free after doing some challenges today. Awesome addition!

QuikSand

11-12-2021, 07:43 AM

Big upcoming series announced, “Harvest.” Waves of new players.

Of most interest to me: a LTD 95 SS Jabril Peppers. I typically don’t spend to buy the limited edition cards but maybe this is an exception.

DE Ogbah getting a 92, he’s a double benefit for both Browns and Dolphins teams.

Should be lively.

QuikSand

11-12-2021, 09:52 AM

I’ve built and sold the 93 Willis Mcgahee set four or five times now, it’s been mildly profitable (buy pieces for around 290K, sell the results for 380K, clear maybe 40-50k each time. Eventually I’ll just power him up and install him as our HB1 and ball out.

QuikSand

11-12-2021, 10:39 AM

Mini spending spree here… bought the 95 Peppers for 403K (in hopes that’s close to the floor amidst the first rush of supply), and the max Redux DE Garrett for 400K. Down around 1.5m, but this defense could get exciting with Peppers as my user-controlled player dropped down to play MLB.

QuikSand

11-12-2021, 12:48 PM

95 Peppers now selling at ~500K, wish I’d had the conviction to buy 4 of them when it was at 400. Dang.

QuikSand

11-14-2021, 09:00 AM

Yesterday was an unexciting Legends release, but the market dropped down... as always the "training price" is the simplest measure, and it got to untested waters for much of the day, down near 12. Online trackers put it back to about 14 today, so it was partially a dip, but still if they say 13.76 then a "good deal" is maybe 13 even... do I want to keep from attaching to the 15 number as a mental barrier.

91 card is worth 7,000 training, so good price now would be around 90K
89 card is worth 3,150 training, so good price now would be around 38K

I was tied up during most of the crazy period yesterday, but managed to sneak some cheap pieces for the DE Willie McGinest set. Am sitting on more cards than I'd like had I know there would be a 10-15% price correction. So it goes.

QuikSand

11-14-2021, 08:12 PM

So, with the 95 Jabril Peppers card, I’m upside down but it might work out. The in-demand limited editions tend to rise in price after they’re no longer being supplied to the market. I got mine at what felt like a low point of 400k, then lamented here when the card was selling at 500k a few hours later.

Anyway, it calmed down, and when it gradually got back to 400 I bought two more copies… planning to hold for a week or two and sell somewhere higher. But the card bottomed out around 330K, and that’s been grating on me. No point is writing an expurgated version of the story, so there it is… I messed up. It’s back up to 360k now, and the card is no longer available in packs, so… maybe I’ll end up clearing some coins. But not even close to the max.

Alas. Can’t win them all.

QuikSand

11-15-2021, 03:57 PM

Spent down to around 200k in coins. Just on…trash. 30k cards I wanna flip to 45k, Darius Slay on spec he gets a big TOTW card tomorrow… pieces of the McGahee set… idano.

Dumb, probably.

QuikSand

11-16-2021, 12:10 PM

Back up over 800 K in cash… Training price continues to cover around 13, so this looks like where the market is now… I have been bringing down my hope for price on various cards I own, and listing a bit lower here and there.

The most interesting development in the team of the week is that offensive lineman Robert Hunt from the dolphins, mini viral for his heroic near touchdown reception on Thursday night, was granted a fullback card, which is pretty cool.

QuikSand

11-16-2021, 12:15 PM

This week, the TOTW cards bumped up by one point. So, the main card of interest today will be a 90, rather than the 89 it has been for the last few weeks. These have been the cards that drop and get very inexpensive for a day or so, offering a real money making opportunity… Or at least an opportunity to buy low for later resale at a profit. The current market price for a 90 rated card is around 70 K, maybe 60 K if you are lucky. I am not sure what the cards released today will sell for…, But it is possible that I will be angry I have so few coins available to invest in them… If there are a zillion 90 rated cards out there, independent of the player, I might be frustrated if they are selling for 52,000 coins and I can only buy 10-15 of them.

QuikSand

11-16-2021, 03:14 PM

TOTW just dropped. Super messy. I have bought 90-rated cards (WR Lamb, LB Reddick) for 62, 60, and 50K... have seen them going even cheaper, it's just a race to click BUY first. Yikes.

The desire for these cards is motivated by not only themselves (90 is a playable card for most of us) but also that you need 3x of them to build the set for the new big deal cards that just dropped, including a 94 Mahomes that looks like it might become the new default meta QB to use. So, these should stay in fashion for a while. Buying all I can at good prices.

QuikSand

11-16-2021, 03:35 PM

So, with what cash I have, I'm just maxing out the copies of CeeDee Lamb that I can get for 55K or less, and listing them immediately for 69,999 (nice). Flipping for profit within an hour of 8-10K each is nice, if it works out.

QuikSand

11-16-2021, 03:43 PM

ok, 13 copies of CeeDee bought for
63.6
60.6
53.0
51.1
53.1
60.3
60.0
59.6
59.3
55.0
54.1
47.3
49.9
...and I'm nearly broke. Have 7x up for sale for 70K, and at some point I'm hoping they are in the going, going, gone stage and look attractive to some under-prepared buyers.

Otherwise, I may be looking for training re-rolls, where you quicksell cheap cards for training, use the training currency to buy packs, and hopefully get higher value in the pack contents than what you spent to get them.

Regardless, each card is worth 5,000 training, so even 60K is 12 coins per training, a pretty good deal right now, even after a recent market drop.

QuikSand

11-16-2021, 06:14 PM

My first six posted at 69,999 all sold, go figure. Have another batch up for sale.

Market down around 12 now, I’m guessing it’s temporary…

QuikSand

11-19-2021, 05:17 PM

So I’m back up to a bit over 1.5m in cash, the second wave of Harvest cards dropped today, and Legends tomorrow should make for another buying opportunity.

Market kept wilting all week, now down around 11, maybe going lower.

QuikSand

11-20-2021, 03:07 PM

With the market particularly week, and cards fairly cheap, I started acquiring some of the pieces for a dolphins theme team. I powered up a few of their players as well. It is, I will confess, deeply uninspiring to do this. Especially, when I know that my best play for quarterback will still be Marcus Mariota, and my best play for running back without a massive investment will still be Marshawn Lynch. That’s going to make this team feeling awful lot like the Browns team, so what is really the point?

I think my life would be better served if I cut by 2/3 the amount of my attention I spend on this.

QuikSand

11-21-2021, 12:45 PM

So, the 5 day xgiving weekend is the “Blitz” promo, arguably the biggest of the year. Last year it saw a drop in the market from about 13/training to around 8. The same effect here would drop prices from 10-11 to maybe… 6-7?

I’ve resold my Dolphins and hopefully have just set that aside for good. I’ve sold off lots of other cards to get up around 2.3m in coins, liquid is where you want to be if the Market crashes.

There’s hope for my 2x Peppers cards bought at 400 each. While they dipped around 330, they’re back around 400 now and I might get out soon with only modest losses.

We’ll see. The weekend could be nuts if it’s like last year.

QuikSand

11-22-2021, 09:50 AM

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">�� Bo Knows Legends ��<br><br>Bruce Smith ��<a href="https://t.co/mDlMzs7u0D">https://t.co/mDlMzs7u0D</a><br><br>Everson Walls ��<a href="https://t.co/5nPmOIA6LU">https://t.co/5nPmOIA6LU</a><br><br>Charle Young ��<a href="https://t.co/sUVTjrEaWZ">https://t.co/sUVTjrEaWZ</a><br><br>Dan Dierdorf ��<a href="https://t.co/wIfXvnmmU1">https://t.co/wIfXvnmmU1</a> <a href="https://t.co/fcu9iCWKUY">pic.twitter.com/fcu9iCWKUY</a></p>— MUT.GG (@MUTdotGG) <a href="https://twitter.com/MUTdotGG/status/1462808648367984644?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Okay, a whole new wave of players, apparently, attached to this "Bo Knows" promo. We knew there was a slow-rolled build toward a big Bo Jackson card, apparently maybe also some big players who were contemporaries of his.

Everson Walls not known as a Cleveland Brown, but he did tack on a couple late years there so his Power Up card will be eligible. We're getting (over)stacked at DB now. Really need a true DT.

QuikSand

11-23-2021, 08:15 PM

Training down to 10, 9 if you’re patient and selective.

Crash comin’.

3.3m coins, I’m ready.

QuikSand

11-24-2021, 09:58 AM

Market is hanging around 10, all signs continue to point toward a massive realignment later this week… The slow crawl in that direction should be an indication of people like me selling off what they can while the prices are still reasonable. I am up to an all-time high of 3.7 million coins, and don’t really have much else to sell at this point without meaningfully disrupting my roster.

QuikSand

11-24-2021, 12:08 PM

So, there is a quirky thing happening right now in the market. They released this new set of cards Monday, centered on bo Jackson, called “bo knows.” For the new players released, each rated 94, you can complete a set of 30 copies of the 85 rated cards to get one of the 94s, plus his power up card. The problem is, there are so many 85 rated cards out there, but the market is completely flooded… There are well more than 100 copies of each of them available. Because the auction viewer can only show 100 at a time, it defaults to showing the 100 most recent… I do not know of any way to access newly introduced cards, that might be a good prices. It is weird.

(please forgive audio typos)

QuikSand

11-25-2021, 02:51 PM

Blitz program starts 8pm tonight, I’m cash heavy and ready.

I know the big CB Everson Walks is out there, we could use an OLB as well. Maybe a boost at RG Wyatt Teller? TE Austin Hooper? Toss us a couple of random guys who wandered through Cleveland over the years?

QuikSand

11-25-2021, 08:30 PM

Only small pieces of the Blitz program are active now, but some cards are now selling at a training price under 8. Looks like it’s happening.

QuikSand

11-26-2021, 06:22 AM

Market seems to have settled at around 7. A 94 rated card (19,000 training) that went for nearly 400K a couple weeks ago… now with some patience maybe as low as 130K.

Last year these prices lasted a few days then the market rallied back up and sat around maybe 10-12 for a couple of months. So, even if I’m not in love with the cards in deep supply now, i think I do plan to spend down even if just as an investment in cheap training or later sell-offs.

QuikSand

11-27-2021, 09:11 AM

At 6.5 on the strength of a new 91 card that, I guess, people are buying with their temporary Blitz Bits currency. It’s a funky market.

I’ve been buying the 94 rated cards from the last promo, Bo Knows, at around training value (under 135k) and they reliably sell at 160+. So that’s been a profitable churn thus far. I’ll end up keeping one CB Walls for the Browns, eventually. But the plan is, I think, to sit on maybe 10 of them after the Blitz promo ends, to see if the market goes back up. If so, maybe I can sell them off at 200 rather than 166.

QuikSand

11-27-2021, 11:35 AM

Training now selling under 6… the 91 LB Fowler is driving the plunge I think…

The driving force is the 94 Bo Jackson card about to be released. You do stuff to get Blitz Bits (temporary currency), when you buy stuff like the 91 card with your bits you get Blitz Packs, and you need a boatload of those to get Bo starting tomorrow. So, if you mostly want Bo, you just sell off the 91 Fowler. So the market is overloaded with 91 Fowlers right now. He quick sells for 7,000 training, and he’s now around 40-44K.

Anyway…lots at work here. Like… will these 91 Fowler cards be selling at 45K tomorrow? 55k? More? Yesterday’s special 91 was selling at 50K and already is fetching 70K or so. But that was a RT, a high price position. I don’t know what to do here, I’ve got about 10x of the Fowler as I felt 48 then 46 then 44 was a great buying opportunity. Now what?

QuikSand

11-28-2021, 02:11 PM

Market inching up today, back to around 7. I have about 25x of the 91 Fowler cards from yesterday, bought for about 45k each I’d say. In the days ahead I’ll hope to see an adjustment in the overall market, and if these cards sell for a net of 60 I’ll clear 3-400k from the risk. Hard to see the market going down from here, so worst case is I sell off slowly at modest or no gains.

QuikSand

11-28-2021, 02:25 PM

Meanwhile, my Browns team is nearly maxed out… McGahee doesn’t feel better than Chubb but I’m running him for now. I never got the big Marino card, still rolling with tricked out Mariota who is a great fit. Last piece left is to fully power up CB Walls and probably move a CB back into the safety rotation, likely McCourty I guess.

QuikSand

11-28-2021, 02:31 PM

I’m around 2m in coins… have spent a little on my CLE team, have been fiddling around with the pieces I’d need for the MIA roster, but I’m cycling more than keeping for now.

Myles Garrett, by the way, is a game wrecker playing DT across from the RG, so my itch for a bona fide DT has cooled off.

Today’s 91 Blitz card is TE Jonny Smith, and neve mr got cheap into the 40s like the last two… he’s been selling around 65 and I’m sitting it out. Mostly just poaching guys around the training price and immediately re-listing for 20% more, just churning coins while the market feels so safe. If I get stuck with any of these, it feels unlikely I suffer…just cash them for training or flip them later for whatever I can get.

Travis

11-28-2021, 09:58 PM

Out of curiosity, how much time would you say you've spent in the Auction House vs playing challenges and the like? I was really into MUT a few years ago but wore out with the amount of time I had to spend in the AH on a regular basis to keep my theme team going (and was nowhere nearly as effective with it as you are showing in this thread). This was also back when it all had to be done in game vs app/web based (I think you mentioned earlier that's a thing now)?

QuikSand

11-29-2021, 10:46 AM

Very fair question. My son likes to play challenges, so we have been bonding over that here and there. He likes easy ones, I like hard ones. He's 8, I am no longer 8.

I have the Madden Companion App on my phone and iPad, and fiddle with it for a little bit here and there, multiple trimes, every day. I would not be anywhere near as effective in MUT as I am if it were not for the app, which is information-loaded beyond what is accessible in-game, and much easier to simply pick up for ten minutes between meetings, etc.

I'd guess I spend 5 hours a week in the app (or on MUT related websites), and maybe another 3-5 on the console. It's not a hobby you can really push without some investment of time.

This year they seem to have decided to add a lot more "free reward" players for those who engage with the game at least a bit... like right now each week if you play two pretty easy challenges, you get a free 90-rated Team of the Week card (that cannot be sold, auctioned, traded, or used in sets) -- so they are definitely keeping the low-time-investment players involved enough that they don't just walk away for lack of any degree of competitiveness.

I honestly don't think I recommend this as a hobby. I'm too compulsive and can't let it go, I spend too much time with this given the real world competition for my hours of attention.

QuikSand

11-29-2021, 01:02 PM

Four new 94-rated Bo Knows players today... QB Randall Cunningham among them and the most intriguing, I think. Nobody who fits onto the Browns, Dolphins, or even Chargers theme teams, so nothing of direct interest here. LB Singletary, WR Swann, an DT Wilfork as well.

Travis

11-29-2021, 02:03 PM

Thanks for the details. I do really enjoy having access to Madden when I have the itch to play some football but yeah, the days of spending enough focused time on it to properly play MUT and avoid the temptation to spend are probably gone for me. But damned if that temptation to open packs is not a strong one and they sure know it.

QuikSand

11-30-2021, 05:03 AM

Blitz promo is over, and so is training under 7. Back up over 8 today, as predicted. Should be a good deal of slow profits as I shed these many 90, 91, and 94 players I grabbed while they were cheap.

QuikSand

11-30-2021, 05:38 AM

It’s clearer to me now than at the start… the Blitz promo is definitely built for money spenders. I didn’t even mention here all the good deals available for $10 or $20 or $80 worth of “points” available only through real money. So, I was misguided thinking this was a window to improve the roster… nope, just the bottom line.

I did use the down market to buy up most of the cards I’d need to play a Dolphins roster. We’ll see if perhaps Tua is among the giveaway 90 cards fir this week… if so, that could be the nudge I needed to give that a real spin.

QuikSand

11-30-2021, 05:49 AM

It looks like the 91 Fowler card, that I still hold about 20 copies of, will sell today in the high 60s. I bought at roughly 45 each. 30% or better profit is nice, I figure I’ll sell off most of them in the days ahead. It’s abundant but basically “out of print” as all the Blitz stuff was for limited time windows. I wish I had moved in harder on the 92 SS Derwin James, that was the even bigger hit, in retrospect.

QuikSand

11-30-2021, 06:39 AM

A quick retrospective on the 94 Bo Knows first wave. I went in pretty hard, buying a lot in the <140K range, but was flipping them for 170K every chance I could, just trying to churn. It was successful. As the price was drifting up a bit, I was holding maybe 16 of them, when I heard there was a promo coming up in Blitz to buy one of these cards. I sold about half my stock then around 170 or so, fearing/expecting a market drop during that window… but it never came.

So, I have 7 of them in hand now, including one CB Walls I intend to keep and use soon. Market seems up a bit, so I could likely get 180K-200K now, maybe a bit more soon. I hit this one pretty well, but sold off a bit too low guessing there was going to be another big bite at the Apple which didn’t happen.

QuikSand

11-30-2021, 10:32 PM

Market back to 9

QuikSand

12-02-2021, 05:59 AM

Back of envelope, I think I probably ground out around 1.4m in value during the Blitz promo. I had forgotten the specifics from last year, but this is mainly a program for money spenders… When, in reality, this is a program not really designed for me. Regardless, I definitely did the right thing by liquidating as much as I could in advance, maxing out my coin balance, and then buying a lot of cards while the market was down. I didn’t keep scrupulous notes, but I know I turned a lot of cards and made small profits within the 4-5 day program, and I still have Quite a number of cards in my inventory that can and will sale at prices higher than my purchase point, even after taxes.

I think if I fully liquidated right now, other than the players I am actively using, I would probably be over 5 million in cash… Plus I’d have the backbone of a dolphins team team, and fully maxed out a couple more players on the Browns team. Not bad.

Next promo Zero Chill will likely stretch out across a few weeks, will include many more new players (and possibly some appetizing sets). Last year, I parked on one or two of the sets in the zero chill program and built and rebuilt the same Rod Woodson card over and over again for a profit every time. That’s my jam.

QuikSand

12-03-2021, 06:42 AM

Bored

Chas in Cinti

12-03-2021, 10:50 AM

I mean... empty cupboard or restricted roster challenges are just out there waiting to be played and written up... :)

QuikSand

12-03-2021, 01:48 PM

Up over 4.8m in cash now, a new high for this year.

QuikSand

12-04-2021, 09:07 AM

About 5.8m with nearly everything extra sold off.

Today two new Legends, that’s usually a buying opportunity as people rip packs to get Legends, get stuff they don’t want, and oversupply the market. I guess I’ll try to buy some stuff cheap.

QuikSand

12-06-2021, 09:40 PM

Topped 6.3 before buying up some cards to semi-finish my Miami roster. It’s kinda fun, a QB away from being pretty lively. I refuse to play Mariota there, for now, so it’s an 89 Tannehill for now.

Big week ahead…changing the “season” means some stuff, plus a new program “Zero Chill” on Friday. My favorite content creator Gutfoxx predicting a big market crash ahead, which I’m well suited for. Bring it on.

QuikSand

12-06-2021, 09:41 PM

The Limited card with the TOTW tomorrow is a 95 WR Devante Parker, too. Whoa.

QuikSand

12-08-2021, 06:03 AM

Travis

12-08-2021, 06:32 PM

Buy them, enjoy them! Is Marshall one of the top run blocking WR the way he used to be?

QuikSand

12-09-2021, 04:59 PM

Marshall is big and physical and that has value in this game where tons of speed guys are effectively clones. He’s still really pricey but I think they’ll re-release 94 LTD cards soon as Redux, and I’ll buy him then.

I have bought 2x DVP and even a copy of the 95 Dan Marino. So, I’m trying to move in your direction.

LTD FS Minkah Fitzpatrick out today, too. Rains, pours.

QuikSand

12-09-2021, 05:00 PM

Meanwhile I’m stuck away from home, they started a new “season” and I can’t access the app until I’ve advanced a level via console. So a dead day.

QuikSand

12-11-2021, 09:54 AM

So I have built out my Dolphins theme team to where I had my Browns for some time… nearly complete, short only a few particularly expensive cards. This is my dilemma with a market of perpetual price drops… that 94 Brandon Marshall and the current LTD 95 Devante Parker would give me a top-end pair at WR. But they’d cost me $1m in coins to buy right now. Over time they’ll get cheaper.

But this IS prime playing time. Last year I perpetually denied myself the Parker in the exact same situation- he was an expensive limited selling for 700K or so and I sat and envied it until it was no longer a special card. Ugh. Then I ended up the year with a few million in mostly unusable cards.

So, we’ll see. Good LTD cards tend to go up in price once they’re no longer “in print.” So, buy the Parker now at 500k? Buy a few?

So I bought a DVP when he dipped below 500 to have and use, and when he dipped down to 440 I bought another as a short term investment. Worked. Sold last night for 575, price still around there now, just a few days out of print. So that was good.

It’s tricky as I don’t really want to be stuck with lots of cards if there is, indeed, a market crash - but it’s not showing yet. A window yesterday when the market moved from 9 to 7.5 or so as they released the Zero Chill program, but apparently no changes in pack odds to undergird a change and it’s back to around 9. Legends today may help, but fairly unexciting, I think.

QuikSand

12-11-2021, 01:56 PM

Market has risen slowly but surely since yesterday early afternoon… And now it’s back up over nine. There did not seem to be much of a dip this morning with new legends cards came out, maybe they just were not very exciting… Both cards were players who spent their entire career with one franchise, making them a bit less exciting for the many people who run theme teams. I am pretty well situated for a high cost market, I’m not really looking to buy very many things right now.

QuikSand

12-11-2021, 09:08 PM

Market closing in on 10 coins per training, and I don't understand why.

QuikSand

12-11-2021, 09:08 PM

These Bo Knows 94 cards are selling around 230K… wow, I felt good unloading in the 190s.

QuikSand

12-12-2021, 03:18 PM

As always, when I start following a set of cards for a while, I start to pick up on the spaces for value to be gained. Watching the Dolphins cards 92-93 and 94-95 I’ve been flipping the 93 Will Fuller (buy <200, sell 240s) and now 95 Devante Parker (just sold for 679). Gotta keep grinding.

Have 4.8m in cash, Dolphins team short about 3-4 high end cards from being completely maxed out, but playing well with Mariota rather than the seemingly overrated Marino.

QuikSand

12-13-2021, 08:04 AM

Back to 5.5m after cashing out a couple more big ticket flips.

QuikSand

12-13-2021, 08:10 AM

So, one of the most annoying tropes in MUT is that theme teamers gripe when releases miss them. But this week’s cycle of Bo Knows players, now bounced up to 95, is just absurd. The already stacked Raiders, Jets, and Patriots just keep getting star caliber players. All my teams just sit and wait.

The winter promo caps on Dec 25 with a big flurry of “presents” revealing, and signs point toward one of them being Xavien Howard, which the Dolphins team really needs. I’ll look forward to that, I suppose. But my wishful thinking about John Offerdahl or Keith Jackson or Bernie Kosar or Paul Warfield or richmond Webb or Louis Oliver or … ugh, never mind.

QuikSand

12-13-2021, 10:36 AM

The Jets theme team was already dizzyingly strong, and of todays four new 95 players, three get Jets chemistry. That’s silly, especially for a team that’s had a rather depressing run these last, oh I dunno, 50 years.

QuikSand

12-14-2021, 02:01 AM

New Stocking Stuffers program coking out Wednesday, 32 cards so it sure sounds like one for each franchise…. Bring it!

QuikSand

12-14-2021, 09:56 AM

Well, hard to get better fits for my theme teams than the just announced stocking stuffers, 92 rated cards coming out tomorrow:

DT Malik McDowell for Browns
DT Christian Wilkins for Dolphins

W

QuikSand

12-15-2021, 02:48 PM

So, with the Stocking Stuffers program, now out, a couple of things designed to be good for the :No Money Spent" crowd like me:

-a pretty do-able set of solo challenges nets you one non-sellable 92 guy, good

-there's a set, where you trade in any 3x of the 92s, and you get a sell-able 94 Master from this set, plus any 3x of the 92s in non-sellable format

Bottom line, at today's (high, since they just came out) pricing, I could go and get (buy) the three cheapest 92s out there for roughly 170K each, then do the set to get a 94, hand pick the three 92 guys who fit with my MIA and CLE theme teams (MLB Christian Kirksey played for the Browns originally) to get back as non-sellables, then sell the 94 card for something like 400K (net 360) and only be out around 150K for the whole affair. Very good value, to be honest.

QuikSand

12-16-2021, 09:57 PM

There’s uncertainty about what the MUT market might do tomorrow with the next phase of the Zero Chill program out… plus a sizable wave of formerly limited edition 94 cards being re-released in packs as Redux. Without a pack odds boost… I’d guess very little change, but I’m getting fidgety to train up some guys, would love to buy lower, even if it’s just fleeting.

QuikSand

12-17-2021, 09:02 PM

Market slightly over 10… no crash today. Hoping Legends tomorrow moves the needle, but without a pack odds change, probably not.

QuikSand

12-18-2021, 11:21 AM

It's just weird... I'm itchy to train up and max out a few of my Dolphins (95 WR Devante Parker, 94 DE Jason Taylor) but to do that I need training, and it still feels sooooo expensive to buy cards for training right now. While the market is semi-soft I have just purchased some cards -- all 91-rated, meaning they quicksell for 7,000 training each -- and I'm getting them at or just below 70,000 coins for a price of about 10, maybe a shade below.

What stinks is that I still remember buying a ton of training for 6-7 coins per a few weeks ago during the Blitz promo. I have since sold off (or quicksold) all those cards, so I have cash in hand for buying low... but it's still hard to crowbar open the wallet to buy training at these high-again prices.

QuikSand

12-19-2021, 09:39 PM

Browns RG Joe Dellamiellure is out tomorrow as a 95, endgame quality. He’ll need to power up to gain CLE chem, so pricey, but still great to have.

QuikSand

12-22-2021, 09:30 AM

Today is a big day for the MUT world, a big wave of new content... but for the many of us who are strictly theme team players, it's always a mixed bag. It again feels like the usual franchises are getting fed (Cowboys WTAF man) but many of the rest of us have little to do here. With a huge wave of 95-96 cards rolling out, I'm looking at zero Dolphins and apparently one Browns 92 CB (Greg Newsome, rookie) who would contend for but not necessarily even get a starting job on my squad right now.

So, unless I'm open to bending my own rules and playing a "best team" or whatever it would take to use some of these exciting new cards... yawn here.

QuikSand

12-22-2021, 08:12 PM

Well, I am trying to capitalize on a little speculation right now. There has been a leak of what the principal named players will be will be revealed on December 25 in the morning, when in game presents open. Among them is RB Ricky Williams, who might end up being the new most powerful running back in the game. Anticipating this big card coming, and becoming popular quickly, I am stocking up on the 90 rated version of the same player… Knowing that people who want to max out Rikki will need the intermediate card to fully power up there’s to maximum value. I now have about 12 copies of the 90 rated card, purchased anywhere from 80 to 100 K in coins, each. I have many of them for sale at 1:40 or 150 already, and I am hoping to be there when there is a day or two of spike in this particular cards demand. If I am right, and I can Deal all these cards for 150 or better, this will be a nice hit. If I am wrong, and they drop down to trade in value, I probably lose half a million or so.

QuikSand

12-23-2021, 09:59 AM

Meanwhile, after getting my cash balance up well over 6m recently, I’ve just dipped below 3m and it feels weird.

QuikSand

12-23-2021, 10:04 AM

RG Wyatt Teller gets a nice 93 card… that plus the CB Greg Newsome should keep the Browns roster inching forward (while the big franchises take leaps and bounds).

QuikSand

12-23-2021, 10:07 AM

Admittedly, I am pretty sick of playing QB Marcus Mariota on both of these theme teams. It is legal, it is within the rules, or the concept… But it is just not rewarding. At its best, a theme theme should feel like you are really using players from that actual franchise. In the process of trying to sprinkle in a bunch of extra players to help theme teams out, I fear that EA has actually undermined what makes them feel cool.

I really do not want to be playing Marcus Mariota, or some other player who has no affiliation with the dolphins at all, when I suit up my all dolphins theme theme. I want to play Bob Griese, or Dan Marino, or Tua Tagovailoa, or whomever. Same thing for my defensive line, my office of wine, etc.… It is functionally nice for them to give me a player like Lance Alworth and pretend he played for the dolphins.But we both know he never did.

QuikSand

12-23-2021, 01:24 PM

So, the Ricky Williams plan is pretty straightforward— on 12/25 lots of people will see their “presents” acquired through their recent efforts turn into special packs and players. If the rumor/leak is true, one such player is a big 96? RB Ricky Williams. If so, lots of people will suddenly have that card, with two obvious options:

-sell it (meaning s glut of supply, and a buy-low opportunity)

-use it (meaning they’ll want to max him out, requiring the power up card AND the 90-rated card needed along the way… driving demand for the 90)

I have already made a pretty big bet on this, accumulating about a dozen of the 90 rated cards. The obvious follow through, it seems to me, it’s for me to buy 345, however many I can of the big card when they become available on the 25th. Ideally, I will be selling off my 90s at high prices, and buying a 96s at low prices, at roughly the same time. In a perfect situation, I end up with one copy for myself, and a bag of money to go along with it.

QuikSand

12-23-2021, 08:47 PM

…continuing the Ricky Williams profiteering I’m now spelunking into the Team Diamonds set for the 90 card. Much like the Andre Rison that I completed maybe 30 times or so, there’s not only profit in finishing the set but also spiking prices on the last copy or two of any component piece. Grinding out 5k every so often this way now too.

QuikSand

12-23-2021, 11:03 PM

As a rule, I philosophically don’t like the “Out of Position” element that has taken hold in Madden. I presume, years and years ago, this started out as a tiny novelty… A Randall Cunningham card as a punter, because he famously punted once or twice in real NFL games. Now, it is a centerpiece of multiple waves of contents over the course of the year… And serious players always look forward to specific players, like a Calvin Johnson playing free safety, which appears to be an annual renewal now. It doesn’t really map to anything in the real world.

So, this is a substantial element of the current promotion, zero chill, and there are a couple waves of out of position players newly available. I just don’t like it. It doesn’t feel like real football, it feels like a clown show.

Now, that said… It appears that tomorrow there is a 92 rated Odell Beckham Jr. card, where he is slotted as a half back with excellent receiving skills. That appears to be a general void in the game, there just are not very many running backs who are especially good in that regard. So, if this card gets Brown’s chemistry… And that is not clear to me whether it will… Then it could be a genuinely interesting card to play. So, I could suck up myTheoretical and philosophical objections, and knuckle under and see whether this is an interesting card.

QuikSand

12-24-2021, 09:48 AM

I’m now up to 22 copies of the 90 Ricky Williams. Jacked to the tits.

QuikSand

12-25-2021, 09:28 AM

96 Ricky Williams confirmed… Very good news. I have sold several of my 90 cards at about 160 K, now I’m getting greedy and trying to move that price up to 190 and 220… We shall see.

QuikSand

12-25-2021, 10:03 AM

The 96 Ricky opened in the mid 400s, I was trying to buy lower, it’s already slid up to 550…ugh

QuikSand

12-25-2021, 10:28 AM

I may have been insufficiently greedy… sold in tiers upward, now my last batch at 259,999 look like they may go at that price. $$$$$

QuikSand

12-25-2021, 10:45 AM

New all time high of 6.5M in cash, plus 2x 96 Ricky cards. This paid off really well.

QuikSand

12-25-2021, 11:16 AM

Market abruptly off a cliff to about 6 this morning… I’m treating it as if it’s very temporary and buying cards for training, just in case. Gonna need to juice up my new Ricky, at the very least, right?

QuikSand

12-25-2021, 11:16 AM

Will try to ignore the 90 Ricky cards currently selling near 400k. Wow.

QuikSand

12-25-2021, 12:06 PM

So, my instincts were correct for the most part… I was right at the car was coming, I was right about the direction of the prices on each of the components. I made lots of small chunks of coins by buying up and selling the component parts of the Ricky Williams set, frequently clearing 10 K on a card that’s worth 2K. I was also right that the 90 card would go up in price while there was immediate demand today, and I made a handsome profit doing so. What I underestimated was the magnitude of the change there, in particular. I was buying cards as high as 110, thinking that my eventual sale price might be something like 150. As prices kept going up I kept selling off a few more and more, 160, 190, 220… I just was not imaginative enough to see the card going into the high 300s. So, I made plenty of money buying at 110 and selling at 220, somebody else made lots of money buying at my 220 and selling at 375. So it goes.

QuikSand

12-25-2021, 08:53 PM

Looks like I figured this more or less correctly… the market abruptly dropped from ~10 to ~6 … I missed that moment but did a lot of buying while I could buy 91 cards at around 6.5 per. So that’s a nice cache of training if/when I need it.

Picked up some Ravens cards too. :whistles and looks away:

Now the prices have drifted up to 8… so this doesn’t feel like a fundamental change arising from something like a big pack odds change.

QuikSand

12-27-2021, 01:26 PM

So, among the special 96 cards that were available to people who had special presents under their tree on the 25th… There was a goofball Derrick Henry as a quarterback card. I have mentioned my general disdain for these out of position weird cards, but the potential is there for this card to be very fun to play with… If he is a genuinely fast and frighteningly powerful runner who can at least throw credibly well, that could be pretty entertaining.

Now, while I was spending most of my energy on Ricky Williams… The market for this card was going berserk. By night time on the 25th, it was selling for around 1.2 million coins.

EA then made an announcement that they were going to make available these special Christmas present cards as limited time only, available in packs, for 48 hours each. Derek Henry’s card is currently available, and will be through Wednesday morning. I don’t know what the play is here, I remain pretty confident that this card will be popular and interesting, and in demand after its availability is over… But with the extra wave of cards becoming available through this LTD availability, will that add supply, and reduce prices? I have bought three copies of the card today, at around 500 K apiece. My instinct is to spend almost all of my money buying this card, to get eight or nine copies, in hopes that in a week or two they are back to 900 K or so. But my confidence is not especially high that this will be true. So, I expect I will keep these three Derrick Henry cards, carry one extra Ricky Williams card, and buy one extra Marlon Humphrey card, in hopes that they all appreciate in value in the short to medium term… And then I can sell them at a 50% markup in two weeks or so.

We’ll see. Confidence not high here.

QuikSand

12-27-2021, 02:31 PM

Even if this bet pays off overall, I missed the market “bottom” for sure… Henry at just under 400K right now, wow.

QuikSand

12-27-2021, 05:37 PM

So, what the hell… Since I have 96 Derrick Henry sitting on my roster at quarterback, and I have been grousing about feeling unfulfilled at quarterback… Why not connect the obvious dots here? I now have a roster with a powered up Derrick Henry, a maxed out Ricky Williams, and my best possible office of line, surrounded by a still maxed out dolphins chemistry roster. This is going to be interesting for a while. This running game is very hard to stop… I just run RPO plays and pick between two devastating ball carriers. Henry is barely adequate as a passer but who cares?

QuikSand

12-28-2021, 12:04 PM

Apparently, EA messed up yesterday and failed to get these 96 players into the packs that people were opening, trying to get the special players. Short version is, this kind of thing happens apparently, and usually there is a so-called make right to compensate those who were harmed by the mistake. That may mean a wave of free 96 cards being handed out to people who acted in good faith… And that could depress the price of these two cards long-term. I think I’m sitting on four copies of Henry, and two copies of the safety… It’s possible I just end up substantially upside down on those theoretical investments.

(Please forgive audio typos)

QuikSand

12-29-2021, 07:24 PM

Current status - of the LTD 99 cards I’ve mentioned:
5x Derrick Henry QB
3x Isaiah Simmons
3x Ricky Williams
1x Marlon Humphrey

Just below 3m in cash/coins

QuikSand

12-30-2021, 01:02 PM

The 96 cards that were available Mon-Tue this week as “limited” crashed to basically minimum pricing: they quick sell for 250,000 coins, so posting at around 278Kvis a break even offering for the seller. I bought several, and now only two days later there are signs they will generate at least some profit… selling into the 330-350 range today.

The 96 Ricky Williams and Marlon Humphrey are still available under 300k as they’re in packs through today and there’s little else to do in game right now.

Overall market is way up… cheapest training is around 11, I’m surprised. Maybe I ought to sell off the 10-15 91 cards I had been sitting on for training… seems like this has to be a high water mark.

QuikSand

01-04-2022, 07:58 PM

Just nothing to write about. Market is up a bit, as we're in "staleflation" when there's no new content so people who want to do something (especially those who just got the game for Xmas) just go and buy cards out there for sale... demand remains high, while there's little new content.

Rumor is a new wave of players coming this week... maybe another Team Builders or something similar, a one-per-team program designed to help the theme teams out there who are lacking here or there. I'd welcome that.

Playoff cards will be coming fairly soon, and that will mean extra cards for the teams in the NFL playoffs this year...for my Browns, Dolphins, and even maybe Ravens.... not so much. Ugh.

QuikSand

01-04-2022, 08:00 PM

Right now I am playing a Miami-based roster, but with only the required 50 Dolphins to max out those players with chemistry bonuses, and then other MPA guys sprinkled in elsewhere. QB Derrick Henry is absurd, SS Simmons is pretty nutso as well. It will do until one of my theme teams gains a new in-scheme high end QB and then I will switch back to a pure theme team from either CLE or MIA.

QuikSand

01-05-2022, 09:29 PM

Looks like the market dropped today from 10+ to around 9. Beats me. Who the fuck cares? I’m bored.

Campus Heroes coming Friday, so a batch on basically random “good player” cards. What might alter my mood? RG3? Bernie Kosar? Daunte Culpepper? Keith Jackson? I dunno…

QuikSand

01-07-2022, 08:36 AM

Market down to around 8.5... I still don't know why, I'm assuming it's related to the swell of 96 cards (non-tradeable) handed out as "make-rights" for a server glitch several days ago. Everyone affected got a free pick of QB Derrick Henry or SS Simmons - two of the glitchiest cards in the game. So their price is now depressed, perhaps permanently, bad for my "investments" of maybe 10 of them, combined.

Campus Heroes out later this morning (only 94s, so not advancing the envelope at all, just fill-ins I guess), so far zero cards I have seen that fit any of my teams and so my yawnfest continues. I have a vent on the QB Henry card I could let loose here, if I gather the motivation to type it up.

Whatevs.

QuikSand

01-07-2022, 09:52 PM

So, among the 10+2 boss Campus Heroes from today we yet again get one guy who made his name elsewhere but grabbed a snack in Cleveland while washed up, OLB Brad Van Pelt. Looks fine, I’ll grind some challenges to get him, but I’m not going to get excited about him. Meh.

Miami totally strikes out, just like with the whole Bo Knows program. Kiddo’s Chargers also get zip.

QuikSand

01-08-2022, 11:22 AM

The market is down pretty substantially today, 91 rated cards that quick sale for 7000 training… I am finding them reliably for 45K or less. That’s back down to a training price of 6 1/2 or thereabouts… Which we have not seen for weeks. I’m going to buy several, just in case this is temporary, but I’m hoping this is a general realignment.

QuikSand

01-09-2022, 06:53 AM

Online trackers show the market down around 6… so there must have been some pack odds change to make this happen. Last year I don’t think things got a lot lower than this level, so… maybe here it is?

Servers down during my bout of insomnia natch.

QuikSand

01-09-2022, 09:29 AM

So, I am now motivated by lack of something interesting to do, taking another look at all the component parts of the Andre Rison set, one of the team diamonds series that was pretty hot several weeks ago. My theory is that many of these plays are showing up again in higher level form… EA is cheap enough to have limited the number of players in the game, reducing costs and buying their rights.

If I’m right, Rison is a big enough name, that if he shows up again as a 9697 or 98 level player, he will be in big demand… He also played for multiple teams, and that adds to his value for those of us doing theme teams. Many such people will be looking for his 90 card to do a full power up, and that should drive up the cost not only of those cards, but also the component parts of its set. What was once a very lively market for these various gold cards has very much cold, and I am just scooping them up for 2000 coins and under… In hopes that the market will one day go bonkers again, and I can pick up these dusty old cards and sell them for 5000, 10,000, 20,000, whatever the ridiculous market might bear.

(Please forgive audio typos)

QuikSand

01-11-2022, 10:40 AM

Today, a new wave of "Team of the Week" cards pent up as they held back this program for a few weeks. This wave might give me something to do, at least, as there are multiple impacts on my theme teams:

Dolphins:

-a 92 Duke Johnson card, in the receiving back archetype, likely better than the Reggie Bush I have been running as my complement to Big Ricky, nice

-a 92 Jakeem Grant WR card, which has blazing speed but tiny size, but likely to step in as our lead PR/KR and in the rotation for jet sweeps, etc

Browns:

-a 97 Limited Edition (expensive) Odell Beckham JR card (harkening back to his heyday with the NYG), suddenly probably the best receiver in the game and WAY better than anything on the Browns theme team, wow

-a low-rated 85 card for Miles Garrett, which means he will have an additional +1 on his power-up card for now (though I'm hoping he also gets a Team of the Year or season awards card soon to max out)

Pretty big impacts, after a few weeks of feeling fairly neglected.

QuikSand

01-11-2022, 08:08 PM

Announced for tomorrow:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="is" dir="ltr">Baker Mayfield <a href="https://t.co/erywAnwB5F">pic.twitter.com/erywAnwB5F</a></p>— MUTality (@MUTality7) <a href="https://twitter.com/MUTality7/status/1481053472678100996?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

QuikSand

01-13-2022, 09:47 AM

and also...

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="es" dir="ltr">Joel Bitonio <a href="https://t.co/40f5yWvEGW">pic.twitter.com/40f5yWvEGW</a></p>— MUTality (@MUTality7) <a href="https://twitter.com/MUTality7/status/1481653068500377609?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 13, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

QuikSand

01-13-2022, 12:04 PM

It appears that the market has settled, and the new training price is around 4 1/2 coins. That’s great, even though I was pretty heavily invested in cards purchased at a training price of around six… This is still on balance pretty good news.

I am not paying as close attention as I was earlier this year… Function of many things… But I presume that there were some new packs available in the E a store that were more generous in turning out quality cards at relatively low prices. Generally speaking, it’s just a matter of time until the change in park odds results in an overall realignment in the market… That seems very likely to be what has happened here.

Anyway…10 days ago a boring 92 rated card (10,000 training) was selling for about 90-100K. Then they bumped down to the 60-ish range. Now 40K if you’re lucky. Just recalibrate, this feels permanent.

QuikSand

01-14-2022, 05:03 PM

Well, a lot going on in Madden world, not a lot for me I'm still sorta bored.
I have grabbed the two new 92 Dolphins cards, and have put some time into playing with them - Jakeem Grant is indeed a nifty return guy, super-agile. Duke Johnson is an improvement on the Reggie Bush card as my 3rd down back, but to be honest Ricky Williams is still probably better than Duke in that capacity, despite not being as shifty - he's just that good overall.

Still playing Dolphins-50 with non-theme players sprinkled in, and out-of-position Derrick Henry at QB.

It's dumb, Henry plays more or less like a powerful but mobile QB... he's basically the same card as, say, Jalen Hurts. Instead of making these OOP cards physical freaks who are lacking in position-specific skills, they have made them into titanic stars who carry over most of their base athletic skills and then magically have plenty-good-enough pure skills for their fake positions. We get it, real life Derrick Henry occasionally tosses a 9 yard TD pass to a wide open guy on a trick play. And I would be just fine with an OOP card letting him be a RB behind center, who can pass the ball at a just-barely-adequate level... got it, fine. Sort of like running a full time wildcat offense, fine. But making him a precise, solid passer -- like as effective as most NFL starters at routine 15-yard-out timing patterns against man coverage? Dumb.

Same goes for DK Metcalf at CB -- don't give him great "cover skills" just make him a tall strong athlete who could line up at the position and sometimes outjump the other guy. Not a lock down cover man, too. Bo Jackson at MLB, Calvin Johnson at FS, on and on. It's a stupid perversion of football, and I hate that using guys like this is essentially the way to make your team the best it can be.

Browns got a 95 Baker, and I just bought it... I will likely buy the new 97 Joel Bitonio and power him up to be my first 98 rated player. OBJ is super expensive, over 1.5M and I just couldn't bite the bullet for more than half my cash, so I guess i sit him out -- I will be able to power up my current OBJ to something like 94-95 and he will be a new WR1 for Baker. Irony abounds, running back to run the Browns team so I can feast on the Baker-to-Odell connection when both sides of that have since fallen apart in real life.

Alas.

Travis

01-14-2022, 06:16 PM

Agreed, the OOP stuff would be way more fun/interesting if they came with a downside to really make you have to play the game differently vs, as you say, just having an all around star at the spot. Glad to see you got some solid additions for the Browns team, even if it means a pretty ironic way to light things up.

QuikSand

01-15-2022, 09:07 AM

Thanks... I'm guessing this weekend will be a return to a pure Browns team for me.

QuikSand

01-15-2022, 06:44 PM

Browns team re-engaged. The 97 OBJ just got away from me… opened around 1.5M, stopped to maybe 1.3, but now up around 1.8 as there’s no more supply (two day limited edition card). So, mine is powered up to 95, as far as I can go without the boss card.

Same story, smaller numbers with the 97 Bitonio. It dropped to around 360 and I waited in hope of it falling further. Now at 500 and I feel like a fool, burned by the 10-12 96-rated cards I’m still sitting on. Ugh.

QuikSand

01-18-2022, 05:07 PM

Well, I'm fairly bored with playing football games in Madden, and agitated every time I open my "binder" and see all these fucking 96 Ricky Williams and 96 Derrick Henry cards bought "as investments" only to see them never budget really at all. ugh.

Anyway, my latest f-around scheme has been back to old reliable. I have been seeing lots of good players from early sets get revivals when a new, high-rated version of the player gets released. Presumably, EA is just so cheap that rather than pay two all-time players for their rights, they will just pay for Johnny Unitas and use him in two different promos this season. Makes sense.

Anyway - long story short: I'm betting on a new, great, card coming for Andre Rison

Now, I have detailed here my fascination with him from earlier this year - he was part of the Team Diamonds promo set, one great player from years past from each franchise, and a 25-card set required to complete in order to get the 90-rated card and his lower-rated Power-Up card. Pleas each one gave you a token, and a full set o those tokens got you the coveted 95 Dan Marino every-team card.

I coveted, and got, the Atlanta player 90 WR Andre Rison, in part because he played for the Browns and looked like the best WR out there for my Browns theme team. I remained enchanted as I realized he played for 5-6 teams,making him not only a good player but a really useful card for theme teams.

Fast forward to now. Let's say they come out with a 97 or 98 Rison card sometime ahead. He's a good enough card that he's one many people might want to play, but that he'd also be a must-have for theme team players like me who are running any/some of the various teams he played for.

Many like me will already have the Power Up and the 90 card, and just need training to power that guy up to near-max, and then a copy of the top card to max him out.

But many will have to start from scratch. Meaning they are going to need his 90 card, and there are two ways to get that:

-buy it in the auction house
-create it by completing the still-active Team Diamonds set

So, in anticipation of this happening, I have been doing two obvious things:

-buying multiple copies of all the component cards for the Rison set

-creating copies of the 90 card to have on hand (thins out the binder and has me nimble)

So, that is me spending money. However, there's another wrinkle that's not too obvious:

-When I am buying low-end cards, i fairly often buy the entire group for sale... that 75 rated card that has a fair value of, say, 1,000 coins... I'm buying not only the 850 and the 900 but then the 1,100 and the 1350 too. And no there are no copies left so...

-I am posting one or more of my copies for sale at inflated prices. That 75 card, I am posting him at 6,999 - basically a silly price, but I'm doing so understanding the psychology here. Why would you want him badly? He's a 75, useless. But of you want him badly, it's because you want to do this set... you see that the 90 Rison is still going for a healthy price of maybe 70,000 coins (well over training price). Presumably you have 23 of the 25 pieces needed for the set... and a price of 7,000 rather than 1,500 is annoying but unlikely to be enough to say "well I'll just wait a couple more days" so you just suck it up and buy it.

Anyway, my buy/sell log is just jammed of late with these stories... bought 6 copies of the same card averaging maybe 1,000...then basically paid for the whole lot by selling one at a 6,000 marked-up price. I am accumulating a lot of this fodder just off the small profits of buying low and selling absurdly high, on a small scale but many times over.

I am surely the main contributor to the price of the 90 Rison drifting upward to 60-70-80K or so. The real hope is that if/when a big Rison card does come, it will trigger a rush for a while on these 90s, and I will be ready - the 10x or so that I have in hand can sell at 120 or 150K or whatever the market will bear at its zenith. And these remaining component pieces will go up as well, when someone who has lots of little pieces around wants to cash in on the 120K sale price for the 90 card, maybe he will pay my absurd 15,000 price for the 75-rated card that I bought in January for 850.

Anyway, it's something to do. Beats, you know, playing challenges and stuff. Actually football games, yawn.

QuikSand

01-20-2022, 06:11 AM

The pent-up Team of the Week dropped (delayed) Tuesday night, and as usual some of them overran the market and drove down prices. I now own about 35 of the 92-rated cards from that wave... purchased at around 41K each, by my guess. My expectation is that like last week, these will drift back into a balance, and likely will sell for more like 55-65K within a few days. Just looking for a quick hit... turn 1.4m into 1.8m or something like that.

QuikSand

01-22-2022, 07:18 AM

Market has dropped, it seems permanently (?), to nuder 5 coins/training. My big plunge into the 92 TOTW cards won't turn big profits, but likely...tiny ones?

Latest wave of cards has been good to the Dolphins, where I could get back to a pure theme team before long. New cards for them include 5 guys from the Team Diamonds 2 set - all 95 rated players build-able through collecting 20 various rated cards from the same franchise. MIA lucky to have three other teams' stars also visit the Dolphins roster:

TE Keith Jackson (have been aching for this card)
DE Mario Williams
OLB Joey Porter
and their own, FB Larry Csonka

Jackson is a total bingo, hugely needed. Williams should be a big boost, and Porter is already my ROLB1 pass rusher on that team, he'll just get a LOT better. All good turns, though the FB is a low-impact position, sadly.

Add in the 94 RT Liam Eichenberg and I have a full click or two of improvement on the pure-Dolphins roster there.

Had been expecting to go back to play MIA once they released a Tua card...maybe that won't wait.

QuikSand

01-22-2022, 07:20 AM

On the Browns theme team, the TD2 promo is a major miss - only CLE eligible player is LT Joe Thomas, giving him a decent bump but also signaling that he won't get a maxed-out Ultimate Legend card later this season, dang. He'll be plenty good with this bump, but the roster could have used some other guys for sure.

On the field, it's rather depressing (keeping in mind the actual Browns irl) since among my highest profile new acquisitions, Odell is balling out and Baker is just ass. Ugh.

QuikSand

01-27-2022, 09:56 AM

lots of updates, just need time to write up...

QuikSand

01-29-2022, 04:40 PM

A fair but has happened since my last substantive update. Super quick rundown here.

Profit-seeking ventures, both resolved and in progress:

Investing in 96-rated Xmas "gift" cards - got sabotaged by EA running each of them as a Limited Edition after their announced one-time giveaway, then further sunk by "make rights" for some game glitch giving tone of people one of these for free -- result: medium losses

Ivesting in Andre Rison futures - still unresolved, but they just turned another 90-rated WR from the same set into a "Legend" card (Charlie Joiner) and it accomplished what I want here - Joiner's 90 card rocketed from 45K for 125K in a day and people are going nuts to do the set for that card... it's profitable at both levels (selling high on the 90, and gouging people buying the component pieces)...as long as Rison eventually gets a similar treatment, I am sitting on 20+ copies of the 90 card and lots of components... status: in progress

Buying cheap training before a market spike - on rumors that the Team of the Year release would spur demand for cards and drive prices up generally, I spent down around 2.5m coins to nearly zero, mostly buying 94-rated cards for under 100K coins (price or around 5.0/training). Market as predicted went up, though not hugely - sold a lot of those cards off around 130-140K, for a tidy profit, and sold several of the cards for training to refurbish both MIA and CLE rosters. Result: solid gain

So... at the moment, I'm back around 2m in cash, but rosters are FAR stronger than they were last time I did a serious rundown. My Browns roster is nearly maxed out (I still regret not buying semi-low on the big OBJ card) ... but I have drifted back to the Dolphins and have stripped them back to being a pure theme team again.

QuikSand

01-31-2022, 09:25 PM

The "PhinsUp" All-Dolphins team has gained some real ground:

Who I'm using now
...and who's out there who might improve the team

QB still running around with 90 Mariota, he's mobile and plenty good
...the 95 Marino is really the only other legit Dolphin QB around

RB 97 Ricky Williams, with 93 Duke Johnson sprinkled in as receiving back
...receiving backs 96 Kenyon Drake and 96 Thurman Thomas

WR 97 Jaylen Waddle, 96 DeVante Parker, and 95 Brandon Marshall
...we're maxed out here, likely for a while

TE 98 Mike Gesicki, 96 Keith Jackson (and I use FB Csonka as TE3)
...maxed out and likely this is it, very solid

OL really improved due to two fake team chem cards... current OL starters are:
97 Boselli - 94 Saffold - 90 Pouncey - 90 Hunt - 95 Eichenberg
...not superb, but plenty good, would take a big card to improve

DT 93 Christian Wilkins and 94 Ndamokong Suh start inside
DE 95 Jason Taylor and 95 Jack Youngblood start outside
OLB 93 Jalen Phillips and 96 Joey Porter
...several guys out there who may be helpful: 97 Robert Quinn, 96 Mario Williams atop the list

MLB Junior Seau 97, mostly use formations without anyone else
...there's a monster all-team-chem 98 Luke Kuechly, but that's far away

CB 98 Bobby McCain (?) and 95 Byron Jones start, 92 Jason McCourty in slot, 85 Xavien Howard depth and sits around awaiting a big card, surely coming

S 93 Kam Chancellor, 93 Eric Rowe, 97 Minkah Fitzpatrick, 94 Jordan Whitehead

...all told, a solid group. Not spotless, but we're now past the "omg we have nobody to play there." Will keep tinkering with pass rusher options, in search of the right combo - have lots of guys with flexibility between OLB/DE.

Still really eager for some program to wheel out and honor a big wave of younger players who are doing well but stuck on runt cards...for Miami that would be S Jevon Holland, QB Tua Tagovailoa. Give me an effective Tua card and I will likely sink in with this roster for some time ahead.

I'm around 3m in coins/cash. Keep fiddling around with 94-rated cards at roughly training price... just buying under 100K and posting them around 120-130, and usually getting a sale before too long, it's a grind but a pleasant one.

...and still awaiting a big Andre Rison card.

QuikSand

02-02-2022, 01:56 PM

Given the stuff in the real life news these days… Maybe I’m doing it wrong. I’m stocking my dolphins and browns theme teams with good players, trying to win games. Maybe I’m doing it wrong? Maybe the higher up brass wants me to lose games, instead?

QuikSand

02-02-2022, 10:03 PM

Big market plunge today … from nearly 6 to around 4.3 now. Guessing it’s related to the promo Tom Brady cards out today, maybe juiced pack odds along with them? Anyway, hunting now for 93 cards (13,000 training) selling for 55K or Les LFG

QuikSand

02-06-2022, 10:50 AM

The market has crept back up north of five coins per training… I am trying to interpret this as a High Point, and I am selling off a variety of 90 something rated cards I have accumulated over the last couple of weeks. At the moment I am around 4.7 million coins, plus a healthy store of resources related to the Andre Rison card.

QuikSand

02-09-2022, 12:00 PM

OK, I am sitting on 5.6 million in cash, but my interest in actually playing this game has waned a great deal. Most days I login, check a few boxes, get my daily bonuses, and log out.

QuikSand

02-09-2022, 12:06 PM

What cards do I really WANT?

Dolphins: really, hardly anything. There are a couple cards that might be slight improvements over what I’m running with right now… 96 RB Thurman Thomas, 95DE Mario Williams… But they were just step in for guys who are at most one click below them. There are positions I would like to improve on the dolphins theme team… Safety, center, right guard, defensive tackle. But the cards to do that, simply don’t exist right now. At quarterback, I continue to play with 90 rated Marcus Mariota… The only upgrade available right now is the 95 Dan Marino. They’re apparently was some sort of promotional thing that I missed to get a 92 to a Tagovailoa, but the card from that was not auction of all, so I don’t apparently have any way to buy one.

Browns: a bit more. The big 97 wide receiver OBJ is the obvious thing I covered for that team, he’s still running for more than 1 million coins. There are three or four other players who would be material upgrades for that team, including a DE Malik Jackson, whom I suspect I could play at defensive tackle. I think there are one or two other players where I could make a purchase, and upgrade a position by a couple points. But, at the moment I am not very motivated to play with the Browns.

The big promotion this week will focus on the two teams in this year’s Super Bowl, maybe I get a Larry Ogunjobi card out of it to help the Browns, I can’t think of anything else that would be useful. So, in a holding pattern until something else lands that seems particularly interesting.

I probably already have enough coins on hand to buy all the cards that will help my theme teams for the rest of this year… So in effect I am probably just done with this game. I may keep muddling along, my son and I have been fiddling with a separate team built from daily purchases and packs and lower level challenges, but that is a testament to my boredom with theme team building, as a not very competitive online player.

(please forgive audio typos)

QuikSand

02-09-2022, 05:23 PM

Okay, so the maxed-out LTD 97 Thurman Thomas just showed up for sale pretty cheap, so I bought him. I'll deck him out and give him a spin as the Dolphins main receiving back, and see if that adds some flair to our offense. Cool, something to do.

QuikSand

02-09-2022, 05:25 PM

Or, I spoke too soon. As usual, if I buy a card cheap and have time before I can get to the console, I tend to toss it on the auction block at an optimistic price. Anyway my $320K Thurman already told for $430k. So, never mind I guess.

QuikSand

02-12-2022, 07:32 AM

Market finally back down to 4.5 today, may do some buying. Recent card drops have mostly missed my theme team, but I still feel like doing something.

Post SB there will be a huge 99 card for the MVP where lots of people will get it as a reward for prior set-building (or something)… so an infusion of cash might send the market back up?

QuikSand

02-12-2022, 12:00 PM

So, the reality is not all that great. These low prices are mostly a reflection of the oversupply of Super Bowl related players from the last week or two. There are lots of lots of these guys, so the price on those particular cards is coming down… Yes, they can be purchased and quick sold for training, so it makes the cost of training low, but it does not reflect an overall adjustment in the real marketplace.

Among the Super Bowl cards, the only one that is directly relevant to my theme teams is in 95DE Malik Jackson, whom I believe I can use as a defensive tackle on my Browns team, too good effect.

But when I went out looking for the 95 Dan Marino, the 95 Larry Csonka, and the 95 Joe Thomas… All of those cards are still at more or less the same price as where they were a week ago… Substantially higher than this depressed training value of 120,000 coins for a 95 card.

QuikSand

02-13-2022, 02:25 PM

Have 95 Marino out there, decked out with some add-on skills to improve his throwing power. He's solid.

Without the cost of the Mariota add-ons, that freed me up to use the powerful "Human Joystick" on two different players -- receiving back Thurman Thomas, and underneath receiver Jaylen Waddle. This is now a committed passing team, and it feels a bit fun to fiddle around with now.

QuikSand

02-13-2022, 03:06 PM

The week ahead looks like it will be busy, a major rebound after the last 2-3 weeks:

-Superbowl MVP 99 card for those who spent $ to earn it weeks ago
-NFL honors cards, likely 97 cards for about 8 high end guys
-New "Team Builders" set, I'm guessing 92-rated, selected to help theme teams
-New program "Gridiron Guardians II" random new good cards, sets
-Launch new Saturday program of Ultimate Legends (topping out at 97?)

Sounds like every day will be a big deal. Also a new "Season 3" starts soon, either this week or next.

I'm basically in stagnant mode, but have $5m in cards. Hit my Dolphins with a nice juicy card for CB Xavien Howard (no-brainer, likely in the GG2 set) and hit me with a big time safety there too, plskthx.

Oh, and shoot me Andre Rison as an ultimate legend sometime soon, so I can cash in this investment. I'm so sure it's coming, one way or another, he just has to come... I'm fully baking in that he'll have a good card coming, to feel like it's a smash hit I want it to be a move-the-market card where lots of people rush to get it. (He was really good, and played for lots of franchises, so there's an angle suggesting this could happen)

QuikSand

02-18-2022, 09:50 AM

So, a pretty busy real life week for me, have not really gotten into the stuff very much…

Interesting situation as of today, or really yesterday, with the overall market… It appears there is a massive glut of 95 rated players from the Super Bowl sad, and the market has plunged on those cards in particular. They are selling at an unbelievably low price of about 3.4 coins per training… Well below any level we have seen this whole year. The funny thing is, that apparently sets the market for training, but the rest of the unexciting cards have not followed suit… So buying 95 rated cards from any other set, or just about any other card other than this particular channel of 95s… You are paying a training price of more than four possibly close to five. That is unusual, in my limited experience.

I don’t really have any direct use for any of these 95 Super Bowl cards, but I suppose I will buy a couple just in case this ends up being an absolute floor for training prices. It seems like relatively low risk to do so.

QuikSand

02-18-2022, 11:39 AM

Oh, they did include Tua among the recent set of Team Builder III 93-rated cards. By my look, if fully decked out, he’ll be a somewhat better passer than my 90 Mariota, and basically borderline “good enough” on a pass heavy Dolphins theme team. I’ll likely get him suited up to replace the boring Marino, just to add the more contemporary flair.

QuikSand

02-18-2022, 12:46 PM

The oddly low prices on the certain 95 cards is over, market has bumped them up from 90K to 110k or so. Nothing to see here.

QuikSand

02-20-2022, 05:31 AM

QuikSand

02-20-2022, 05:03 PM

I am not in panic mode, but the price dip from yesterday continues… The 95 rated cards from the newly released set continue to sell at around 90 K. That is a training price of about 3.5, crazy cheap. I have bought many, expecting that number to rise… But instead, it looks as though many other card levels are dropping perhaps to match that level. This may be a permanent shift. No huge risk to me if so, some of this will just be cheap training, I can probably sell these cards at roughly break even prices, and just miss what seemed like a good profit opportunity.

QuikSand

02-23-2022, 05:38 PM

New weekly program Ultimate Legends started Saturday, wave of 8 guys, half Rams lol but none for any of my teams. Bought up nearly 20 cards rated 95 on a market dip, paying under 90K for each… will hope to sell for 120 or better later this week.

Got a decent bump that I wanted, I have all these cards for sale now in the 125-140 range, and some are selling. If they all sell, I'd be cool with that, we could clear maybe 400K from the few days of investment.

QuikSand

02-25-2022, 06:34 PM

Just unexciting now, to be honest. I'm not enjoying playing much.

Today's promo release includes a 97 CB Byron Jones who looks flawed but will be near maxed on my theme team. Cool. Whatever.

Like, the only thing that semi-intrigues me is taking my pile of cash and starting a new team, and a Lions team built around Night Train Lane as superstar CB and runaround QB. No idea if that would be genuinely interesting, either to build or to play.

A 94 Tyrod Taylor also dropped today, he could be more interesting than the 95 Baker for a Browns team.

QuikSand

02-26-2022, 09:27 AM

Today could be interesting, I suppose… Among the new ultimate legends players being released this morning is a very high and Michael Vick at quarterback. They recently just made an endgame change, effectively making it much harder to use a super scrambler type… But if there’s an exception making it still worthwhile, he would probably be it. I expect that card to be in high demand today, and for a while… So, lots of people should be ripping parks in search of Vic cards… Meaning the other stuff they get and don’t want to go into the marketplace, potentially driving prices down overall. I will be bargain-hunting.

QuikSand

03-03-2022, 11:48 AM

Two new cards for my MIA team... finally added the top-end 97 CB Byron Jones, and bought the new 95 FS Javon Holland. Jones becomes our #1 CB but he was already a starter as a 94 (so that is an improvement)... I'll have to see whether Holland is a meaningful addition at this point. I really wanted his card, but as a 95, he'll still probably be less effective than FS Minkah Fitzpatrick, so I'll need to decide whether to make him my backup FS, backup SS (to start when Kam Chancellor gets pulled down to play MLB, which is a lot) or what.

Anyway... I continue to have the Dolphins team maxed-out (with the only exception that I have not yet done the full grind to maximize Kam to 99), so there's nothing to want, nothing to buy, nothing to mull over. That's boring.

Have gotten many smaller pieces of a Night Train Lane centered Lions team but don't feel like committing two hours to finishing and refining it. Meh.

No ambition to go back and play the Browns team, even with a 94 Tyrod Taylor at QB.

So... big meh.

QuikSand

03-04-2022, 12:58 PM

Medium sized new promo set out today, "Backyard Ballers" and apparently this is some theoretical "what would these guys do at a barbecue" or somesuch. All the players out-of-position, and many appears to be really good. I dislike this, and that it's apparently so popular that EA feels the need to feed the demand for it.

So, apparently my best Dolphins WR is going to now be 255lb Ricky Williams, great. And fun-faux-playmaker RG Robert Hunt now gets a pretty good card to play... safety? And among the best QBs in the game will now be... Stephon Gilmore?

more meh

QuikSand

03-05-2022, 10:01 AM

Today's Ultimate Legends (sets of the same player, rated 87, 91, 95 and the 97 boss, with one underling level card out-of-position sometimes absurdly) include LT Bryant McKinnie, a weird choice. But noteworthy since he tacked onto his Vikings career a short stint with the Ravens, and an even shorter one with the Dolphins. So, the power-up card can get Dolphins chemistry - meaning I now get an end-game level LT for my Dolphins theme team, a nice bump.

This is what it's like now for committed theme team players like me... just sit and wait for new cards, get them, and use them. Not really a lot of strategy, it's the "get enough coins so you can get the cards" where the action is, and candidly, I likely have enough coins to buy all the cards yet to come for my two theoretically active theme teams, now.

If/when a huge WR Andre Rison card drops, I'll boost by a few million and be in fat city, plenty of cash to buy whatever I want, basically, if it goes according to plan.

QuikSand

03-10-2022, 01:45 PM

The third installment today of Backyard Ballers. All out of position players. I hate it.

Great now the best RB in Chargers history is… Derwin James? The most fantastic pass rusher from Detroit was… Barry Sanders? And to max out your team you need those guys?

Stupid. I hate it.

QuikSand

03-10-2022, 01:47 PM

So my Dolphins theme team now needs Brandon Marshall (the tall WR) to be in my MLB rotation. Because the game makers create such cookie cutter cards that the only way to really stand out is via height and weight.

Thus 340lb Robert Hunt as a CB, and so forth. It’s dumb.

QuikSand

03-17-2022, 02:56 PM

Haven't been keeping up closely... apparently the newest round of cards are "Free Agent" cards- mostly matching up with players in this offseason's hot stove marketplace. Apparently multiple of the best among them, 98-rated cards, are being offered "with any team chemistry" simulating having your team go out and sign the player.

So, my "Dolphins" team has always felt fairly far removed from the Dolphins, and apparently now if I want to max out the roster I'll need to go get Brandon Scherff and Chandler Jones and Allen Robinson and (I think I have read) Randall Cunningham and just magick them to being "Dolphins." WTAF is this?

QuikSand

03-19-2022, 12:24 PM

So it appears there are 5x new “free agent” players who get any team chem. QB Randall Cunningham, WR Davante Adams, TE Evan Ingram, LB Chandler Jones, and S Marcus Maye. All of them appear to be upgrades over what I currently am fielding on my Dolphins theme team, so… I guess I just get them all and put them out there. And then, at some point, if I wanted to play my Browns theme theme, I just play all the same guys. Boring AF.

QuikSand

03-19-2022, 12:25 PM

Today is also Randy moss day, he was released as an ultimate legend card today… So lots of people are ripping open packs in pursuit of his cards. That appears to be, predictably, flooding the market with ultimate legends cards that people do not want… The 95 rated cards that yesterday were selling for 130 K, now they are going for something like 80 or 85. I don’t know how much to buy, this might be a permanent price drop, but it feels like a profiteering opportunity.

QuikSand

03-20-2022, 12:27 PM

Market dropped a bunch, seemingly across the board, on Saturday and has stayed there... lots of different levels of cards now selling below 3 coins per training. I'm glad I didn't overdo it yesterday when I saw 95-rated cards going for 80-85K (equivalent to around 3.3-3.5)... they are now settled in at 70-75K. Must have been a major factor at work, probably new packs available for coins/training in the store with materially more generous output. market adjust appropriately, training comes down, and nearly everything else moves relative to "cheap training." Okay then.

QuikSand

03-20-2022, 12:31 PM

Side quest:

My son and I started fiddling with a side roster, and it has been kinda fun to play with. We call it the GAP team, started by the idea that we'd just use all the various random cards we get from buying a daily super-cheap "get a player" pack. Those mostly garbage players eventually formed a roster, and then our house rule was the only players we can add to that roster are ones we earn (through playing challenges) using only that roster. It starts out as total trash, we played some easy stuff, and now have it up to rated 85 overall, courtesy of some fairly deliberately easy challenges in the game that yield 80+ players here and there, and then some more with even better rewards.

We have several genuinely solid players (95 DT DJ Reader, 93 FS Sean Taylor, 92 RT Dan Deirdorf, 92 MLB Levon Kirkland) and then a tier of guys in the mid 80s and up, but we are still starting several players in their 70s for lack of better options.

Building is always more fun. This team is now more interesting than my base theme team is, for the most part.

Poli

03-21-2022, 04:14 PM

Sounds fun. A few years back when players had the game contracts or whatever they were called, I used to play the challenges with different quarterbacks...I could only use one something like 5 or 10 games...and then I had to switch. It turned into me having two squads...one for challenges and one for full games. Challenge squad was mostly empty cupboard type players with the exception of what goal I was trying to accomplish. It was really just to keep my good players out of losing a game on their contract if the challenge was only going to be for a series or so.

It was a wash after they killed that game contract part of the game.

I've enjoyed reading through this, but man, I'm not sure I could do it. I didn't really get into MUT this season when my travel schedule ramped up.

QuikSand

03-24-2022, 10:02 AM

Well, if the Browns team carried any allure, there have been a few rapid developments there... they released the 97 OBJ card as a redux, and it will likely drop from $1.2m to far less... and then they dropped two limited edition 98-rated free agent cards for Jadaveon Clowney and Amari Cooper, plus today a 96-rated Nick Chubb.

QuikSand

03-27-2022, 10:07 AM

TE Ozzie Newsome is one of this weekend's Ultimate Legends, and now has a dominating card. The Browns team would be fairly fun to play if I have a damn.

QuikSand

03-27-2022, 10:08 AM

The more obvious takeaway is that I was a year too early to take on a dual Browns / Dolphins dynasty here. Next year's theme teams for both franchises should be very engaging to play, far more than was the case this year.

QuikSand

04-18-2022, 09:29 AM

Waves of new cards landing... the threshold for "good enough" is now rising to 95 or so (anyone on your roster below that feels like a liability). I am not playing much, and not fiddling in the markets much. Just out of momentum.

The last round of Ultimate Legends did include a WR as expected, but they went with Billy "White Shoes" Johnson rather than Andre Rison. Rison getting a big card, eventually, is basically the last thing I am actively looking forward to, to be honest...and for no real reason, since I am not really that motivated to even finish my team.

QuikSand

04-22-2022, 07:56 AM

Small change in orientation here. After getting sick of all these out of position players, and the voluminous fake-the-team-chem guys, I’m just done with them both, at least for now. Real life Dolphins only.

That means the roster will still be pretty good, but a shade less complete than before. And my interest in obtaining the latest waves of guys who might add something should grow, and that should be good too.

QuikSand

04-22-2022, 09:53 PM

Okay, I got my maxed out Minkah and Ndamukong cards, shuffled things around a bit, and am running with pure Dolphins, past and present. I like it.

Tua in the saddle. He’s not great but it’s kinda fun.

QuikSand

04-29-2022, 06:43 PM

They threw out a 97-rated Tua, and I'm happy. More accurate, not a crazy scrambler, feels right. Playing a pure Dolphins roster is a sweet spot for right now.

QuikSand

04-29-2022, 06:45 PM

Meanwhile, I flirted with building a Lions team earlier this spring... if I play Madden 23 then it's very tempting to consider the Lions for a theme team to invest in. Good OL, couple young exciting stud players, and some exciting veterans who will surely show up in Megatron, Night Train, and Barry. Could be fun.

QuikSand

05-02-2022, 01:17 PM

So, fizzled out mostly on MUT at this point. Tried the obvious... dabbled with Franchise mode a bit.

Played a Dolphins team, a couple seasons, over a few months...mostly didn't like it. Feels like the incoming young players are just SO far worse than experienced players that it's off-putting.

Anyway, fired it up again this weekend a bit. Had a weak roster (bad decisions, on me) and went 2-15 on autopilot. Then loaded up with three young players from the rookie class, and felt like I should try the "play key situations" setting for the upcoming season.

My team was rated low, still. But I won my first two games playing key situations. Played out a lot of autopilot, and slid to 7-7. Then I took over again, played the key situations, and ran the table to win it all.

No point in playing this, I guess. The concept of front-officing a Madden lineup and then playing out the games with it sounded intriguing, but... I can't find the sweet spot.

QuikSand

05-07-2022, 06:00 AM

Interesting twist. They’ve started to release a set of endgame caliber “Golden Ticket” players, specially designed to be awesome versions of earlier cards. Lots of stupid out of position stuff that I hate. Close to nothing for my Dolphins team so I had been inclined to ignore.

Last year these cards sold for maybe 400-500k, iirc. This year looks like 2-3m. Not sure why.

QuikSand

05-19-2022, 09:04 AM

I seem to have been banned or suspended from all online Madden functions including MUT and the franchise mode (I saved to the cloud, apparently unwisely). Cool cool, just in case I was on the bubble about spending money with these assclowns next year.

QuikSand

05-19-2022, 02:53 PM

..it got better, seems like it was a glitch from updating to "season 4" (far too late) and things are settled now

QuikSand

05-23-2022, 11:37 AM

Dan Marino was one of the Ultimate Legends players this weekend, and the case for switching to him over Tua is... very strong:

Compare MUT 22 Player Items Ratings and Abilities - MUT.GG (https://www.mut.gg/compare/#35010893:0,16620916:0)

(not sure if that link will work)

Much greater accuracy, lose a little mobility (but not enough tbh)... yeah we're doing that.

QuikSand

05-27-2022, 06:48 PM

Months ago I started making moves… “investments”… to get copied of the 90 rated WR Andre Rison. The thinking was, EA is so cheap that they have decided to limit the number of players they buy the rights to use in the game… So any meaningful player who’s in the game is probably going to get us a whole series of cards, so they can maximize their trivial investment in player rights. Rison was a high quality player, and an important position, who has eligibility for multiple different franchises… To me, he seems like a perfect card to focus on. I made a lot of money building his Satz, accumulating the piece is required to complete the set, and otherwise taking that card very seriously. But, the whole Kapstone moment was going to be when they eventually released a high end card for him, making him one of the best receivers in the game, and hopefully triggering demand for the intermediate card that would be required to fully develop his power up card.

Anyway, they announced that tomorrow he is one of the ultimate legend cards being released. It is basically too late in the annual calendar for this to matter a whole lot, but I’m hoping they will at least be a few dozen people who scramble to get the card… Wanting him for their Falcons or packers or browns franchise team. And I have lots and lots of copies of him ready to sell, it will not be a giant payout like I had hope for originally… But at this point I might as well follow through on all the effort I put in months ago.

QuikSand

06-03-2022, 03:40 PM

While the 99 Rison card wasn’t the immediate cash bonanza I had envisioned, I have now managed to sell off all 22 copies of the 90 card that I had accumulated. I’m over 5m in coins, with no real plan to do anything much with them.

QuikSand

06-10-2022, 10:39 AM

So, they have launched the Rookie Premiere program in MUT 22, mainly as a vehicle to get people interested in buying Madden 23. It's a program designed to get you doing stuff and spending coins/money to get special rookie cards, that are useful this year but then grant you something of value next year (a pretty good version of next year's rookies who can help your MUT team right away).

The thing is, this adds to the silliness of MUT as anything like a historic representation. They gave one rookie card to each franchise so the Dolphins get LB Channing Tindall, ok, fine. But to make that card (or any of these) relevant this deep into the endgame, it needs to be tip-top quality, a 99.

Contrast that with DE Jason Taylor, a longtime Dolphin with a pretty solid HOF case. He was in the game this year but his best card was a 94. So as I built my "best actual Dolphins" roster right now, I end up with DE Taylor as a relative liability while some fourth rounder with a nice 40-yard time is a rock solid build-around sort of guy. Got it.

Anyway... I'm all but resigned to sticking with this franchise, so in all likelihood I will be collecting the rookie cards to get the tokens or whatever it is that propels me to goodies in August. Hooray.

QuikSand

06-18-2022, 12:31 PM

The boy and I have found a decent groove with the Franchise game, at the total expense of any time spent with MUT at this point.

QuikSand

07-13-2022, 10:56 AM

So, I have more or less decided I'm going to continue playing next year with Madden 23. It has a ceiling for me, but I really enjoy having a side project like this (grinding coins, building the roster, etc) and the boy and I get some bonding time over it (mostly just discussing it).

Anyway... I'm really committed to the "No Money Spent" side. Meanwhile, EA is offering, predictably, two versions of the game for pre-purchase... the higher "All Madden" version includes earlier access and some bonus content. But it costs $30 or $40 more... so effectively that's mostly the same thing as paying money for in-game content (extra cards and currency).

Hmmmmm.

Poli

07-15-2022, 02:06 PM

I did that one year, but I didn't particularly enjoy the bonus content for the money.

I've gone no money spent outside of the game purchase the past year or two.

QuikSand

07-25-2022, 04:00 PM

Pre-purchased the basic version. I have a number of tokens from M22 stuff that will get me some of these spiffy rookie cards in M23, that will have to do.

My aim is to spend roughly half the amount of time and energy on this that I did last year. I want to build my team, and I like fiddling in the auction houses (I really do) I don't like button mashing and want to reduce the time I spend just grinding stuff to get better cards. Will try to be focused and increase the weight I give to my time in the equation.

Anyway, tally ho next month.

QuikSand

08-21-2022, 10:16 PM

QuikSand

08-21-2022, 10:24 PM

MUT 23 - No Money Spent Update
Cash on hand: 246,000
Player level: 6 (not paying all that many games, really)
Main Team: Off 80, Def 78, Overall 79
Roster style: "Best Overall" but supported by 25x Dolphins chem
Top rated players: 86 MLB Channing Tindall, 84 QB Tua Tagovailoa
Current profit methods: building and buying team items
Cards I covet: 87 WR Tyreek Hill (duh) and 86 CB Xavien Howard

Basically I have ground out coins with some easy methods...early on a lot of people are fiddling around with themes, and want to go get the coach, stadium, uniforms, and gameplans for other franchises. I've found an easy exploit to take advantage of the lazy ones - I can create the aforementioned items with an investment of under 1500 coins, and then selectively create items that are short-term scarce. No copies out there of the Texans stadium? I'm on it, spend 1500 coins, and now it's up for sale for 8,950 with a solid shot to go at that price. Easy money.

Tyreek has 87 speed, game-changing at this point... I want him but he's going for as much as I have in total. Will have to wait, I guess.

For now the main team is powered by Dolphins, but there are lots of deep holes there filled by various BPA guys. In time, I will try to push to 50 dolphins, I reckon.

Playing games is not a thrill. Building a thing over time, kinda is.

JonInMiddleGA

08-21-2022, 11:29 PM

Madden 23 is out. Some glitches, but it's live and running.

Spent a few hours with the boy fiddling around, and then some time today doing a few things... got my two sell-able high end cards from finishing stuff in M22, and sold them...didn't truly max out the market in retrospect, but pulled nearly 300K from them. That has fueled most of my early escapades thus far.

I think I will continue to update this thread, but... maybe with more structure and less prose.

Kid bought M23, first iteration in a couple (3?) years.

I gave it a spin, inspired largely by your past posts + my MLBTheShow experiences.

So far, I've yet to get the buggy p.o.s. to give me my coins earned in challenges. Makes it rather tough to buy cards or do anything other than play the game, which is its least enjoyable aspect.

QuikSand

08-22-2022, 09:22 AM

If you are playing on PS4/5, apparently that version is the most broken. So there's hope for improvement soon, I hear.

JonInMiddleGA

08-22-2022, 09:32 AM

If you are playing on PS4/5, apparently that version is the most broken. So there's hope for improvement soon, I hear.

XB1 actually.

I've seen talk of the issue with the (lack of) coins being overwhelmed servers but if that's it, how come not everybody gets bitten by it? (kid hasn't had that issue, nor the "game registers as practice game but when you quit it produces a 0-0 tie" bug either)

So far, this has been the most broken sports game experience I've ever had and among the most broken gaming experiences period ... and I'm a Bethesda Day One guy most of the time, so it's not like there isn't fierce competition for that sort of crown

QuikSand

08-22-2022, 10:26 AM

yikes

QuikSand

08-22-2022, 10:30 AM

Okay, so... I remember an in-school filmstrip from around 6th grade. The theme was "life skills" of some sort, and thinking back, it easily could have been produced by Junior Achievement, or John Birchers, or whomever. Not the point.

The story was a kid mowing lawns, and the plot was around his financial planning. He wanted to earn enough money to buy a better, gas-powered, super-cool lawn mower available nearby for a fixed price. He worked out the math, saying that once he got to the magic point of getting that lawn mower, then he could finish lawns in half the time and massive improve his productivity, making for a better summer, etc.

Anyway... the kid is now me, and the law mower is Tyreek.

87 Tyreek Hill has 87 speed, the fastest in the game right now. Most guys covering him will have maybe 82-84 at best. In a game where lots of ratings are effectively by tiers and thresholds, speed kills. I will surely be able to fly past a CB in many a challenge for a one-play TD, saving me a ton of grind time... once I get the game wrecker Tyreek.

He's selling for nearly 300K, so it will take a lot. But it feels obvious to me that is the next real move for us.

JonInMiddleGA

08-23-2022, 12:30 AM

Just a quick fwiw: my coins finally appeared in MUT, only took about 36 hours for that to happen

QuikSand

08-23-2022, 09:12 AM

Glad your situation got resolved, albeit belatedly.

QuikSand

08-23-2022, 09:13 AM

87 Tyreek Hill now aboard. Gggggiddyup.

QuikSand

08-23-2022, 11:28 AM

MUT 23 - No Money Spent Update
Cash on hand: 53,000
Player level: 11
Main Team: Off 81, Def 81, Overall 81
Roster style: "Best Overall" but increasingly supported by 40x Dolphins chem
Top rated players: 87 Tyreek Hill, 88 DT Sam Adams
Current profit methods: building and buying team items
Cards I covet: 86 CB Xavien Howard, 87 FS Bobby McCain, 87 SS Eric Rowe

So, low on cash but the team is more effective now... some formerly challenging opponents now become butter for Tyreek's hot knife.

QuikSand

08-23-2022, 09:37 PM

More grinding today, have cash around 80K but that's after some decent purchases. After playing MUT 22 right from the start last year, I am WAY more efficient and knowledgeable now. In a few days of work, I have basically put my MIA theme team up to a place that became really familiar to me last year as a NMS style guy: I have pretty much everyone I can reasonably afford, and then a few more on top of that due to cleverness, persistence, or whatever.

Right now, early in the cycle, I think these are the players/cards that I do not yet possess who would benefit my MIA theme tam:

87 SS Eric Rowe (~250k)
87 FS Bobby McCain (~250K)
84 MLB Jerome Baker (could do set for ~40K)
84 RE Ndamukong Suh (~25K)

...and that's really it. If I want to stay within the "pure theme team" I just got to the magic number of 50 players tonight - that grants each MIA chem player a +2 in basic ratings, including most notably SPEED. That's the in-game benefit of pushing the roster this way, and it's meaningful.

Anyway...I sorta dove into this after feeling sorta meh at first... feeling ill made the opportunity cost lesser by far. Maybe I will lose interest day by day, but I am back at the app in my spare moments here and there looking for cards to snipe and sell, or gaps to fill in, etc.

QuikSand

08-25-2022, 05:18 AM

Okay. After a flurry of too-fast roster assembly, I think I see how this is gonna go.

I’m gonna use the “I’m just a theme team guy” to beg out of a lot of grinding out challenges and that crap. M23 continues the trend of handing out special awards in the form of non-sellable cards, this year called “account bound.” They usually also have deeply reduced quicksell value. So…if you grind through a big series of game challenges and receive, say, an Antonio Gates card… then it’s great if you’ll use him, but nearly useless if you won’t.

QuikSand

08-27-2022, 11:14 AM

Big Legends promo dropped today. No Dolphins. I’m tryna flip cards for profit a bit, but the ability to sell via the app is disabled and that sucks.

As always, a big new batch of cards creates arbitrage between those who understand how the market house works, and those who don’t. If you search for a selection of players that totals more than 100 copies, the system narrows your search [i]to the 100 copies closes to expiring on their clock.[i] it’s hard to overstate how big a deal this tiny fact is. But, since tons of people don’t know it… right now I can search on just one specific 85 card and see all 80 copies, with prices down as low as 30k. But the naive searcher is pulling 8x80 cards, and by filtering to only those coming due in the next 22 minutes (or whatever) he’s missing all the low prices, and sees 39k as his best value. It’s absurd.

QuikSand

08-31-2022, 11:49 AM

Not really all that enthused here for MUT. They announced a new program Campus Heroes dropping tomorrow, with some sort of wrinkle… like you easily earn low-level cards and as you play with them they get “stickers” (like the buckeyes on tOSU helmets) to graduate them up to, I think, 87 - which would be among my best players. Sounds interesting.

MLB Junior Seau and RE Robert Quinn among the players already announced, so I’ll have at least a couple of Dolphins to reach for.

QuikSand

08-31-2022, 11:55 AM

…ooh, TE Keith Jackson too (very much needed) and LE Ogbah. Lucky round for MIA theme teamers.

QuikSand

09-02-2022, 11:19 AM

It is definitely en vogue for MUT players to complain that their particular franchise team team has been unfairly neglected. Happens all the time.

So, I need to be fair about it… Right now the Miami Dolphins theme team is relatively blessed. The big $ limited edition card as a topper for the campus heroes program is a 90 Ricky Williams, who will presumably be the best RB in the game for a decent spell ahead. Now, he is surely out of my price range… Selling for 800 K… But that card, coupled with the reward card coming next week, an 89 Jaylen waddle, is going to make the Dolphins theme team very formidable for people playing at the High end.

QuikSand

09-02-2022, 11:22 AM

There are lots of 87 Campus Heroes cards on the market now, and I’m grinding coins by sniping them cheap (~105K) and reposting them for 125-135K. Some risk but decent reward for a little patience and savvy.

I played through the challenges required to get my free copy, and I already have my 87 tight and Keith Jackson. A major addition to my own roster.

QuikSand

09-03-2022, 06:59 AM

Completed a Campus Heroes "set" to make a major advance on my MIA roster.

The set was designed where you submit 5x of the 87 rated campus heroes, and get back one of two 90-rated players, plus account-bound (non sellable, non-tradeable, non-settable) versions of the same cards you submitted. I took the bait... spent on average 110K for the 5x cards, then sold the 90 rated card for about 380K (340K after tax).

So, for 210K or so, I end up with five improved starters:
87 RE Robert Quinn
87 LE Emanuel Ogbah
87 MLB Junior Seau (playable at LOLB, a major need slot)
87 C Garrett Bradbury
87 RT Penei Sewell

Still a 50/50 Dolphins theme team, I had been using lousy OL in those slots to manufacture MIA chem, this is a major step up there

QuikSand

09-09-2022, 10:37 AM

MUT 23 - No Money Spent Update
Cash on hand: 620,000
Player level: 34
Main Team: Off 84, Def 84, Overall 84
Roster style: 50x Dolphins chem, with 4 extra non-MIA players sprinkled in
Top rated players: 89 FS Javon Holland
Current profit methods: sniping/selling, weekly patterns
Cards I covet: 90 RB Ricky Williams

Okay, I had thought reviving this front section every several days would make for a better thread, but then I basically never got around to doing so. Alas.

Team is coming together bit by bit...I learned a lot since last year and am much more efficient with my time and strategies. Also, since MUT has largely abandoned the old "Power Up Card" model for applying multiple team chemistries to players who played in multiple places, that has really saved me a ton of coins that last year would have been spent to turn a player like, say, Minkah Fitzpatrick into a Dolphin theme team card.

The biggest emotional thing of late was the release of a VERY powerful 90 RB Ricky Williams, definitely the best RB in the game right now and maybe the best overall offensive card, and naturally a Miami player. Sadly, he was a Limited Edition only, I don't have the resources to go and buy/pull tons of packs to hope to get lucky with him, and he has remained very expensive - starting out at 700K and drifting up into the 900s until settling down back into the 700s. My peak coin total was just over 1M and I did flirt a bit with blowing a ton of it on this one card, but instead used an unsellable award card, a 86 RB Javonte Williams, as my feature/power back for a while.

Just yesterday a new promo came out with a 87 RB Raheem Mostert, a player who is notoriously overpowered in MUT due to his pure straight line speed. So, he is now installed as my HB1, is very solid, and I have calmed down on Ricky.

I own a copy of the other top-rated Dolphin, FS Javon Holland, but mine is on the block right now as it feels like a high-price wave right at the moment. If I sell him today for 265K and then buy him back Saturday afternoon at 210K, that's a big win.

No really novel coin-making strategies right now. Some of these "re-rolls" (quicksell cards for training, buy special packs for training, and over time get back assets worth more than the cards you started with) are beyond my capacity in both coins and patience. I want angles to shoot, more than just a promising slot machine. I continue to have occasional luck with someone buying my copy (the only one available) of a coach for 5-9K, when he costs me 1K to "make." Not quick money, but it has floated a ton of my growth thus far - just preying on the lazy, ignorant, or cash-insensitive out there.

QuikSand

09-11-2022, 08:02 AM

A few players reliable crash the market when their high end cards are dropped…Michael Vick is one. The coins/training ratio fell from 15 to 12 this weekend…I have bought a number of “cheap” cards planning to sell later this week, or else use for training.

I earned an 89 CB Stephon Gilmore card and hes now our CB1, very good. I’ve mostly settled in with 50/50 Dolphins, the maximum chem benefit, and then a few guys sprinkled in on top: CB1, WR3, and 3xOL.

QuikSand

09-12-2022, 12:10 PM

Team of the Week, based on this weekend performances, should drop tomorrow. Figuring a big card for Minkah Fitzpatrick is on the way. Do want.

QuikSand

09-12-2022, 03:08 PM

Comments section on site describing new program being revealed:

“This is an unmitigated disaster, and I'm glad this will be my last Madden ever. John would be rolling in his grave if he saw this atrocity.”

There’s a lot of this. I guess since I’m still fairly new I have… lower standards? Or I care about different things, more likely.

Anyway, I’m still grinding without much verve.

QuikSand

09-14-2022, 12:44 PM

I continue to make a few coins just about every day with a very simple method, and it is shocking and appalling to me that I appear to be the only person doing this in the Xbox universe. There is a set that requires one player rated 74 or higher, that’s it, from which you get your choice of any NFL head coach. The market for these coaches is very sporadic, and at any given time there may be zero copies available of a certain coach.

For the most part, the going rate for one of these coaches is something like 1000 or 2000 coins… Basically in line with what it cost to buy a 74 rated player. But, because this market is not saturated, there are frequently coaches with no copies available… When I post my one copy of a given coach for 8000 coins, and he is the only copy available, he still has something like a 10 or 20% chance to sell in a given day.

So, every day, I go through my inventory of coach cards, check to see which ones have little or no competition, post them at absurd prices like 7, 8, 9000… And on a typical day two or three of them will sell. Some people insist on quick payoff methods… Buy for 5000, sell for 7000, profit 1300 within one hour. I don’t mind playing the longer game here, and just grinding out a profit of 15 or 20 K on an average day, for basically no risk and no work.

QuikSand

09-14-2022, 12:45 PM

Team of the Week, based on this weekend performances, should drop tomorrow. Figuring a big card for Minkah Fitzpatrick is on the way. Do want.

Minkah got an 87 card, pretty good, the top defensive card this week. I’ll get it soon I reckon.

QuikSand

09-14-2022, 12:50 PM

Last year, they eventually announced a team diamonds program… A Kapstone level card for each franchise, obtainable by completing a complicated set including many gold rated cards in the 70s from that franchise. In this thread I detailed on and off my pursuit of the Andre Rison card, from the Falcons component of this set last year, as it was profitable on and off throughout the entire year. Wide receiver is a premium position, Rison’s card was very good, and he played for multiple franchises adding to his appeal for themed team players like me.

I am assuming there will be something similar this year. I am starting now to gather gold dolphin players in rated in the 70s, on the assumption that at some point they will unveil a special set for which of these cards are either useful or necessary. I am just gathering these cards for 400, 800, 1000 coins wherever I can… In hopes of having a nice robust set of dolphins cards at the ready when the time comes. When these sets are announced, the market for these relatively Useless cards will increase meaningfully, and there will be profit to be had either by selling the gold cards themselves for four or 8000, or by assembling the side, and the selling off the high rated card It yields.

(Please forgive audio typos)

QuikSand

09-18-2022, 03:57 PM

TOTW Tua let’s gooooooo

QuikSand

09-20-2022, 03:42 PM

So, Tua indeed gets todays top TOTW card, a 90. I watched a video where the host derided this card is not meeting the threshold for various special abilities, and declared the card to be no good. Actually, that is probably good news for me… If this were the best quarterback in madden for a while, it would be absurdly expensive and far outside my reach. If it is merely a so-so card rated 90, I might have a chance to afford it before too long. It will probably land in the market today priced at 800 K or so, I will guess… But in a week or two that should settle down to maybe 400 K.

I think I am mostly slipping into my lane for this year… I really do not care about the MUT game very much. I still find it interesting to have this little hobby lying in the background, I still open the app and fiddle around trying to buy low sell high where I can… I get a tiny charge out of that, but I’m very very modest amount of joy actually playing games with my team. So, I guess that just makes me a rosterbator and I’m fine with that.

QuikSand

09-23-2022, 10:33 PM

Strange development today… The market is usually measured in how many coins does it take to buy one unit of training. Early in the season that ratio can be something like 20 or 30, for the last couple of weeks it has been around 13 to 15. For some reason, since noon today, that price has risen up to about 22. So, buying cards at their cheapest will net you, at best, an exchange of 1 training unit for 22 coins spent.

This may be connected to an effort for money-paying players to host a #packstrike to protest bad pack odds and other such things. Beats me.

I am just trying to grind out some coins my usual way, right now mostly searching for 87 rated cards by various program, and trying to snipe cards that I think are listed too low.

QuikSand

09-24-2022, 08:16 AM

there's some informal chatter that a new "re-roll" (a mystery pack, available for purchase in the game store, using training) is what is driving the market now... people want to do it, so they are buying cards for training, and that demand has driven up what used to be the cheap training out there (cards rated 83 and 81, most recently)... makes sense, i guess

QuikSand

09-24-2022, 11:32 AM

So, I continue to have relatively easy opportunities to buy low and sell high on given cards, mostly rated 87. First, I do a smart search, designed to yield fewer than 100 players… That is the key to seeing the entire universe. I sort by the most recent posted. What I am looking for our sniping opportunities, and they should go quickly… Most of the cards I am buying are within the first minute or two of being posted.

Typical situation looks like this: an 87 rated player, just posted, the list price is 85K. At this point, I have a pretty good intuition about what players are expensive, relatively speaking, and what players are not. 85K is a low price for one of those premium parts, it is a pretty average price for the rest. But, there are definitely swings that last a few hours, a day or two, or whatever… And short term an ordinary card can become scarce, and more highly priced.

So, I take a look at the market for that exact card… This is very easy in the companion app, more so than on the console. The number of that card available, and the asking prices, basically set the decision whether it’s worth buying at 85K.

The no brainer bull’s-eye is when this card is a card I already know it’s going to be scarce or highly priced… And there are also non-or a few copies available. That is an easy case of by at 85, immediately relist the same card for 125K, let it sit for 24 hours, and it will probably sell for a nice tidy profit.

Other situation’s are more trick. If there are 12 copies of this card available, with prices ranging from 88 to 110 K… This is probably not a buy. Things might break well, and over the course of the next day I might be able to sell at 105 or 110, or whatever. But, I should have better opportunities than that… That is probably a pass.

Then there are the tricky cases, what if there are three or four copies, only one other copy in the 80s, one at 105, and two at 125? There, my instinct is probably to buy the 85, buy the other one at 88 or whatever, and list them both at 1:19 for 24 hours… And cross my fingers that this relatively thin market will dry up and mine will eventually become the cheapest copies available.

It doesn’t really with stand reason that there’s this much variability in the price is being asked and paid for the precise same card over such a short term… But I attribute this market in efficiency to things as simple as variable knowledge of how the auction house window and sorting works. I know I’ve said this 100 times in this thread, but it is a really big deal… Some people know how the system works, others simply do not, and there’s a massive leak of coins attributable to that differential information.

Anyway, I’m watching my son at soccer practice, and idly clicking around on the Madden app on my phone. I think by making moves just like I’m describing in this post, over the last 10 days or so, I have probably made 1 million coins… I will probably buy eight cards over this next hour, post them all and tidy profit, and expect to pocket 20 K on each of those transactions. Is this a good use of my time in the global sense? I don’t know. Does this entertain me more than most of the time waster style games available on the phone and iPad? Yes, it definitely does.

QuikSand

09-24-2022, 11:33 AM

Oh… (please forgive audio typos)

QuikSand

09-24-2022, 11:39 AM

The campus heroes program, in particular, is especially resilient. It is now two or three weeks old, but there continues to be a lot of interest in those cards… Especially the 87 rated cards, one for each franchise. This is, I strongly suspect, a function of the set they created to get the 90 rated boss for that program. If I remember correctly, it requires five of the 87 rated cards, you submit them into the set to get one of the 90 rated cards…But you also receive an unsellable untradable bound version of the same five cards you submitted in the original set.

In the current state of the game, an 87 rated player is pretty high-quality… So this becomes a really cheap way for NMS players like myself to populate a roster fairly cheaply. Especially if you don’t much care whether the players line up with a theme team, or things of that nature. If you can buy five of the 87 cards for 400 K, run to Sette to get the 90 rated card, and sell it to clear 300 K… You just got five usable but not trade-able players for really cheap. I have done this at one time, and continue to use a few of those players quietly on my mostly dolphins theme team… But if you are really scraping along for cards, this feels like a great shortcut to populate your team with decent players everywhere.

And as a result, there continues to be interest in these 87 cards even two or three weeks after their release. At least half of my market activity has been around these 87 cards from the campus heroes site… The logic is the same with all the different offerings, but this one has been the most reliably profitable… Just so many people wandering around looking for useful players.

QuikSand

09-24-2022, 11:46 AM

The current card I covet is the 90 rated Tua Tagovailoa. It has been generally divided by high end madden players as not having some of the specific elements… Arm release, specific ratings numbers… That would make it an elite quarterback. So, I do not expect the demand for this card to be super high for all that long. However, even several days after its release, it is very expensive…The set required to create the card requires four 87 rated players all from this last weeks release. Unlike most 87 cards right now, these are reliably going for 140 to 160 K… And that has driven the price of the Tua accordingly, he is selling for north of 600 K right now.

My guess is this will settle down, probably after next Tuesday’s release of the week three team of the week cards, and I will have plenty of cash to spend 400 K or so on a major improvement at quarterback. For the time being, I am not even playing any games with my MUT lineup, anytime I’m spending on button mashing is spent on a side project with the Houston Texans in franchise mode.

QuikSand

09-26-2022, 04:31 PM

I’m now over 2.2m in cash with 7x 87-rated cards on the block each for a bit over 100k. Doing well!

QuikSand

10-02-2022, 06:48 PM

3.7m in cash

hardly playing w the team at all

QuikSand

10-02-2022, 06:50 PM

I think the reality check for me this year, compared to last year, is that I no longer think of time spent grinding with my ultimate team roster as worth zero.
For my first couple years playing this game, it all felt like part of the same mission… Develop the roster, grind through challenges and contests and so forth in order to develop the roster so I can grind through challenges and contests… Never ending.

The real bottom line here is that when I fire up the council, I am just more interested in fiddling around with my franchise team… Even though that side of the game is pretty hollow and unrewarding, at least I feel like it’s my work going into the final product, which is basically what I want.

So, I guess the long term is to just quit MUT, but at the moment I’m trying to have it both ways… Fiddling around using the app, earning coins for future use, but with no particular urgency about needing certain cards so I can accomplish certain objectives with that roster. It’s kind of weird.

QuikSand

10-12-2022, 10:28 PM

I’m at the 4.7m, have the 90 Tua as my QB, and I’m ready for a big MUT day tomorrow. A new “season” starts, the market should crash, and a new “Most Feared” program launches.

I expect prices to drop by around 40%, so my cash will go farther. Have seen a 90 TE Gesicki for the Dolphins theme team, solid. This week’s old school players from the Team of the Week program included a 91 WR Brandon Marshall… tall, physical stud… DO WANT.

And, my team in franchise mode has corrupted or some thing, and it’s no longer accessible. So that side show is cast aside for now.

QuikSand

10-15-2022, 11:25 AM

Market crashed, as expected. I was mostly in coins, close to 5m.

Now the Campus Heroes 87 cards that I had been flipping for weeks (buy at 80k, sell at 115k)… most of them are going for 40-50k. Still opportunities to profit but I need to re-learn the market. High end cards haven’t changed a lot, mostly just “training cards” that aren’t really valuable as players, just as quicksell to the training currency.

QuikSand

10-15-2022, 11:29 AM

The “Most Feared” program launched, will be interesting for a spell. You can earn special bonuses for the players from that set - mine gives +8 speed (huge) but something like -8 or -16 on various other attributes like strength and catching skills. Only lasts a few weeks, but it’s there to fight against boredom, so timely.

QuikSand

10-15-2022, 11:31 AM

I did buy a 90 TE Gesicki for my Dolphins team, and he’s temporarily super fast but small, weak, and unreliable. Long term a solid asset, though.

QuikSand

10-15-2022, 11:38 AM

I’ve drifted well below 50x Dolphins for purposes of team building and now availing myself of the MF bonuses. Eventually I’ll work my way back to 50 Dolphins and only a few extra slots for fill-ins.

A pure Dolphins theme team is deficient at several OL slots right now. And oddly thin at CB. Past that, neatly every position is at least reasonably covered. So if I had to play 50 true Dolphins now I’d likely cover CB1, C, RG, and RT with non chem guys.

QuikSand

10-15-2022, 11:44 AM

QB Daunte Culpepper is among the legends cards for today. Historically he’s been among the best QBs in the game, as they code him as a strong arm style (good) but he’s got size and speed to be effective as a rusher too. The market is crazy today, no shock, but if things calm down I could load up there before too long. Top card is a 92, and likely a couple full clicks better than my 90 Tua.

QuikSand

10-29-2022, 08:54 AM

interesting bot, or quirky human?

QuikSand

10-30-2022, 10:33 AM

narrator voice: it was an interesting bot, nobody is actually reading this at this point

QuikSand

10-30-2022, 10:36 AM

Team has advanced a lot of late. Big wave of Team Diamonds finally arrived, with 5x who can get Dolphin chemistry. I now have 92 Daunte as my QB1 (and like him a lot), and have added 92 Mark Clayton and 92 Tyreek Hill at WR, so the offense is pretty fun. Run game is stagnant.

I have eyes on two more of the Team Diamonds - DE Kevin Carter and SS Sammie Knight, who should really help to shore up my defense. There's also a 92 FB/HB/TE Keith Byars who is on my get-to-it list, either through completing the huge set of smaller cards, or just purchase in the auction house.

Anyway, I've been playing a bit, but am not very enthused.

JonInMiddleGA

10-30-2022, 10:48 PM

narrator voice: it was an interesting bot, nobody is actually reading this at this point

Eh, I still read most of it, I just don't have the oomph for it because of my own meh experience. Haven't touched the game at all in weeks, but after the borked start I've pretty much stuck to franchise mode.

Also, and I suspect this is due to active roster size, this seems like a LOT more work than what I had in order to put together a 98 or 99 overall team (with all 98s or 99s) for MLB The Show in a similar NMS. Enough more that I know I'd never duplicate it, I simply don't enjoy Madden that much.

It's not you Quik, it's me.

Chas in Cinti

10-31-2022, 08:11 AM

still reading... but admittedly 0 interest in Madden (I don't even own a console anymore)...

QuikSand

11-02-2022, 10:46 AM

Honestly, the MUT game really doesn't lend itself to a good read, I think. My approach to team building (theme team based) is pretty much a necessity as a no-money-spent guy, but it basically means there's very little innovation or creativity involved.

The joy I get from the game at this point is just in finding angles, exploits, and money making schemes. Writing those up amused me for a while, but it's mostly tedious now.

So it goes. I'm still grinding a bit but not in love with the game, even the market setting, as much as I once was.

QuikSand

11-02-2022, 10:49 AM

As for the actual team, tomorrow is apparently going to be a ground-shaking day in MUT, they are launching a new program with 93-rated players (a new ceiling) and offering up some Redux cards (newly available version of cards no longer in print and very expensive to date). So, I will likely finally get my 90 Ricky Williams and 90 Cameron Wake, as they are no longer super-expensive dominant cards that they once were. I still want them, however, as they are major additions to my NMS Dolphins theme team.

I'm still angling to get several high end cards that fit the theme:

92 FB Keith Byars (plays TE and HB also)
92 FB Larry Csonka (I missed this boat when he was a limited edition, price way up since then)
92 OLB Melvin Ingram (out right now as a LTD, hate buying right before a likely market crash though)
90 Cameron Wake
90 Ricky Williams

QuikSand

11-05-2022, 11:59 AM

Today's Legends release includes a LTD 93 TE Keith Jackson, and I fairly quickly decided I'd go get it, rather than waiting it out. Was bracing for a price of maybe 800K similar to the Delanie Walker that came out a week or two ago.

Instead... 450k? (With a quicksell for 350K embedded, limiting my risk dramatically) Wow. Will get it soon.

QuikSand

11-11-2022, 09:56 AM

So, new Harvest program release includes a 93 QB RGIII card with 93 speed. I have played a Ravens theme team for most of my time in MUT, but not this year... on a Ravens team that card could be close to unstoppable in the game right now, with 95 speed making him maybe the fastest player in the game at any position. Yikes.

I'm using 92 Daunte Culpepper with full Dolphins chemistry and he is good - strong-armed and a powerful runner, plays a bit like Josh Allen. Plenty good enough for my needs, and worth the big investment to get him, but RG3 looks like a total boss.

QuikSand

11-12-2022, 02:46 PM

I think I’ve found my follow up to last year’s Andre Rison set, which I focused on for months. The Team Dismonds set for 92 RT Willie Anderson has several elements of a good choice here:

-he has actual value, as arguably the best RT in the game for now

-he’s part of the big set for the best card in the game, a 96 Elway that requires completing all 32 TD sets

-he’s holding his high value, still selling for over 600K while most TDs have settled in below 400K

So, I’m getting familiar with the components of the 37 (!!!) part set. It’s a ton of medium level cards, no shock. Also unsurprisingly, there are a number of the component cards that I’ve turned into their own little marketplace… Which is more or less what is attracting me to this as well. So, apparently there is only one punter in the game right now for the Bengals. That creates a shortage anyway, for all the people playing Cincinnati themed teams. Now, layer on top of that, that this card is required for the Anderson set. So, a 78 rated card from the base gold set… That would otherwise sell for two or 3000 coins…reliably going for 60-80K. Lots of others that have a minimum buy price of 10-30K. I get it. I can work this market, whether it’s assembling the full 37 pieces for a 600K payoff, or just splashing around in the shallow end… taking advantage of the artificial market for these tiny cards and turning 3K into 15K by playing the highs and lows.

(please forgive audio typos)

QuikSand

11-18-2022, 01:20 PM

My preferred MUT content creator (Gotfoxx) just said, about the "Blitz" program coming next week... "get Blitz right, and you can fund your whole year of MUT."

Cool, tying to sort this out...I have about 2.5m in cash, willing to roll the dice.

QuikSand

11-21-2022, 01:10 PM

The Blitz program starts later this week (Wednesday? Thursday?) and is among the highlights of the year. Lots of cards, lots of high velocity stuff thrown out there every few hours, that sort of thing.

Last year I came away disappointed that it was very focused on "good deals to spend real money" which isn't my thing... but I will be looking for market disruptions arising from it. Market has been steady around 10 coins per training for the last couple of weeks (guided by the powerful market equalizer, a buy-with-training special pack that people collect intel on to determine its statistical worth, and which then guides the overall market into a new, higher, equilibrium).

Training Variety Pack gone in a couple of days, Blitz promo comes, lots of new cards, likely a market crash, and maybe some opportunities to rev up my roster a bit.

QuikSand

11-23-2022, 11:40 AM

Sounds like 93 FS Minkah Fitzpatrick and 93 WR Jaylen Waddle are among the top cards in the new promo. Also oddly an 89 CB Brandon Jones for a guy who plays safety IRL. All major additions for the Dolphins theme team.

QuikSand

11-24-2022, 10:37 AM

Okay, the Training Variety Pack disappeared an hour or so ago...that was, we believe, the main thing keeping "the market" artificially high. Since then, the market has dropped -- training can now be purchased for under 9 coins/training, and that likely comes down over the next day or two with the new wave of cards coming 8pm ET tonight.

The question for me (a no money spent guy, immune to all the "good deal for cash" stuff that will be out there soon) is how much do I invest in the notion that this is a market bottom and it will rise again after the Blitz program?

My default assumption is something like this:

-Market will drop to something like 7 coin/training soon
-I could buy up non-special player cards at the lowest rate possible
-I could spend $1m to buy, say, 150,000 training units worth of cards
-The Market will rebound after this artificial drop, to some degree
-Later, training will rise to, say, 8 coins per training
-If I sell my cards at training rate, net of tax, I get back 1.2m ... profit

So, how much to risk on the guess that this is how things will work? The last two years, I'm pretty confident it worked this way... through Dec/Jan we were looking back on the late Nov Blitz program as the cheapest training/market by far.

I don't know what to do here... it feels like easy money, but it's fairly risky.

QuikSand

11-24-2022, 11:43 AM

All at once the market just plunged to about 6, wow

QuikSand

11-25-2022, 10:58 AM

The market for 92 RT Willie Anderson remains very very strong. I am guessing it’s because he remains the best RT on the market, even with the role out of all these high-level cards in the blitz program. Regardless, I am making bank by selling all my small pieces that are part of the large set required to get the Willey Anderson… So that money maker continues to thrive.

(Please forgive audio typos)

QuikSand

11-25-2022, 12:40 PM

This has been pretty bananas, I am almost sold out of all my low tier Bengals cards… Virtually everything is selling an absurd prices in this weird marketplace. I have made roughly 400,000 coins just by selling off garbage. Cards I bought two or three weeks ago for 2000 coins… Selling today quickly at 15,000.

QuikSand

11-28-2022, 10:04 AM

The Blitz promo once again mostly missing me and my narrow lane. Added an 89 CB and upgraded my temporary non-Miami C to a 91. Fine.

The market crash and odd swell in the market for all the little Bengals cards I’d been hoarding was very profitable. I’m at 3.7m in cash, and have another 500k tied up in “cheap training” cards for some future use/profit.

QuikSand

12-01-2022, 02:47 PM

Waddle

Imma post my L here

The 94 card for Jaylen waddle was part of the blitz program, it was a limited edition card only available for two days, By spending money to buy packs of cards and getting lucky to find one in there. These cards tend to be expensive, I was hoping his card would be affordable, but it landed in the marketplace at well over 1 1/2 million coins. long story short, I got itchy, the card looks great, and as the prices were bouncing around, I told myself if it ever got to 1.3 I would buy a copy.

I did. And then put it back up for auction around 1.6, hoping to make a quick profit… It did not sell. It did not sell the next day either.

Since then, for whatever reason, the market has really settled on this particular card… It now appears to be selling for around 800 or 900,000 coins. So, what I thought was a deal, was exactly the opposite… I was among the last people to buy high.

Life goes on. But it stings. Card looks great, I haven’t even played w it, though, too busy for console time of late.