Madden NFL 16 News Post

Madden NFL 16 Introduces a New Mode: Draft Champions

05:59 PM - June 15, 2015 by ChaseB

EA is just releasing a deluge of official blogs, this one in particular being the Draft Champions blog. I won't steal all their thunder as you can read about it at your leisure, but here's the general point:

Quote:


	Having identified the challenges, we asked ourselves �What is the core fun of Fantasy Football that will work for Madden?� It is pretty obvious: Making the pick. Choosing the player that is going to carry your team. Draft night is the best part of Fantasy Football. The goal of Draft Champions was giving players draft night over and over again.

Our Take: At the end of the day, it's a middle-ground between Ultimate Team and doing a full-on Fantasy Draft like you would at the start of your Connected Franchise mode. It seems to be a very light time commitment in the grand scheme of things, which seems to be the aim. I think it personally speaks to those people who like the idea of Ultimate Team but don't like the grind. Or on another level, those that like Ultimate Team but more like just changing out their players all the time.

You go through 15 rounds and can upgrade a base team that is pre-drafted for you. The players you choose from each time will be random, so there's no guessing how many chances you will get to take an upgraded QB and so on. This is especially important because it's not like a regular fantasy draft where the best players go in Round 1 and you're picking up scraps by Round 15. Instead, it will rise and fall throughout the draft.

At the end, in the "solo" version you try to win three games in a row against better and better CPU teams -- one loss knocks you out. If you play a multiplayer version, it appears you're trying to win four games in a row without losing. If you do lose, your team vanishes and you draft again. I would assume here that by winning the "championship" would gain you more in-game currency that can be used in Ultimate Team -- but that's just a guess.

Source: Madden NFL 16 Feature Deep Dive: Draft Champions (EA Sports)

Game: Madden NFL 16Reader Score: 7/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 24 - View All

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Member Comments

# 1 HC0023 @ 06/15/15 06:14 PM

Cool feature look forward to more information on it

# 2 The JareBear @ 06/15/15 06:15 PM

I think this could be a cool time killer or quick-match kind of deal for me

# 3 BleedGreen710 @ 06/15/15 06:16 PM

i really hope there's not a way to buy better players

but thats probably just wishful thinking

# 4 JayD @ 06/15/15 06:17 PM

I really wished they would of concentrated on CFM rather than giving another MUT type game mode. Looks like this is the age we are in now.

# 5 kongemeier @ 06/15/15 06:18 PM

Hmm, I'm not really sure this mode is for me and I'm sorry if this is a bit off topic... but i did notice in the presentation (and screenshots posted) that a player like JJ Watt is a 91 OVR.

Compared to previous Madden games that's a bit low. I hope this means they worked on the ratings and that all the 99s in CFM will a thing if the past. But I guess it's much more likely that players will be rated differently in Draft Champions Mode and CFM - sadly!

Hope to hear more on this in the near future!

# 6 ChaseB @ 06/15/15 06:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BleedGreen710


	i really hope there's not a way to buy better players but thats probably just wishful thinking

I don't see why they would give you that option, doesn't seem like there's major payoffs to make it worth it, especially when the teams immediately vanish after you lose once.

# 7 BleedGreen710 @ 06/15/15 06:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChaseB


	the teams immediately vanish after you lose once.

as such is the reason some may be willing to pay for improvements to their team

and we dont know what the rewards will be yet but as you mentioned it could be ultimate team currency. and im sure I dont need to tell you the correlation between ultimate team and spending money

# 8 fballturkey @ 06/15/15 07:30 PM

That actually sounds pretty neat. Glad they are trying something new.

# 9 Armor and Sword @ 06/15/15 08:18 PM

I could easily see this mode be exactly like my Diamond Dynasy obsession!.

I can't wait for Madden 16!!!

# 10 ginix @ 06/15/15 09:25 PM

Personally I'm kind of annoyed that they spent their time creating a new mode when CFM is still fairly crappy. Although I can see the appeal for others, I doubt I'll touch it.

# 11 SolidSquid @ 06/15/15 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ginix


	Personally I'm kind of annoyed that they spent their time creating a new mode when CFM is still fairly crappy. Although I can see the appeal for others, I doubt I'll touch it.

Agreed that resources coulda been better spent elsewhere.

# 12 fballturkey @ 06/15/15 11:42 PM

One thing worries me though. If the Draft Champions mode has the MUT 2 minute quarters I'm not going to be interested at all. It's a three game season, we can have at least 5 minute quarters, if not 7.

# 13 howboutdat @ 06/15/15 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JayD


	I really wished they would of concentrated on CFM rather than giving another MUT type game mode. Looks like this is the age we are in now.

Thank you, so glad im not the only one who thought this as soon as i read about it. So we can only do very little for cfm each year cause not enough time, while we spend time and resources on stuff like this. Hear is a grand idea EA,how bout make the modes you already have be good before you go adding more modes

# 14 NewNapkin @ 06/15/15 11:46 PM

Honestly.... I like this. I'm certain that no time was wasted on this that could have been spent on CFM. This looks like a fun thing to do when I just want to pick it up and a play.

# 15 Sheba2011 @ 06/16/15 03:46 AM

This actually looks like it would be a good way to kill a weekend without investing too much time. I like the idea of Ultimate Team but have never had the patience to grind my way to a good team.

# 16 slingblade73 @ 06/16/15 11:38 AM

If the database of selectable cards/players are from MUT this would be cool and keep the mode fresh.

# 17 charter04 @ 06/16/15 11:45 AM

I like this mode. I know the franchise purists can't stand this kind of stuff but, I will enjoy it I'm sure. Maybe it's my age and the fact that I have 3 kids with one on the way that make me enjoy modes that require less time investment.

# 18 jfsolo @ 06/16/15 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by charter04


	I like this mode. I know the franchise purists can't stand this kind of stuff but, I will enjoy it I'm sure. Maybe it's my age and the fact that I have 3 kids with one on the way that make me enjoy modes that require less time investment.

I'll never play it, but I expect this mode to be extremely popular. It will keep a lot of people playing the game for a much longer period of time than they normally would and probably increase the chances of them purchasing the game the next year too. It was a smart play by EA.

# 19 fballturkey @ 06/16/15 12:14 PM

I wonder if you're 'stuck' with the team you draft until you play your season through or if you can give up. Hopefully you're stuck with them, otherwise people will just redraft till they get just what they want.

# 20 Sheba2011 @ 06/16/15 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ginix


	Personally I'm kind of annoyed that they spent their time creating a new mode when CFM is still fairly crappy. Although I can see the appeal for others, I doubt I'll touch it.

The team that worked on this mode weren't the same ones working on CFM. EA has entirely separate studio that works on CFM.

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