Since the massive FIFA Ultimate Team overhaul and improvements in FIFA 17, there have been numerous additions each year to make the mode more competitive. Most recently with the addition of Division Rivals, to remove the more casual Online Seasons mode in FUT. With these competitive implementations come better rewards. There are three weekly game modes within Ultimate Team:
- FUT Champions
- Division Rivals
- Squad Battles
In this article, I will be giving an overview for each mode, as well as going over some of the rewards that the specific modes can offer. As well as this, I will be giving my own thoughts as to which mode I think is the most worth it, in terms of sacrificing time and mental strength.
FUT Champions
When FIFA Ultimate Team was overhauled in FIFA 17, the main addition was FUT Champions. This is an online mode within Ultimate Team that allows players to play online against each other in a competitive environment, something that this community hadn’t really seen before. When FUT Champions was originally introduced, there was only Online Seasons and FUT Draft for online modes in FUT. Neither of those modes were necessarily competitive, either.
Game Structure
FUT Champions was originally in the format of 40 games each weekend. There was one competition a week, which lasted from 8:00 a.m. GMT on Friday to 8:00 a.m. (GMT) on Monday. This was a huge undertaking for the most competitive of FIFA players. Forty games is a lot of FIFA to play in just 72 hours. If each game takes 15 minutes (roughly), then a player would have to commit 10 hours of game time every weekend to complete the week. This is without things such as breaks and rage that were inevitable when playing this mode. In FIFA 19, FUT Champions is 30 games instead of 40. This is a lot better for more casual players, but it will still take a lot of time to complete.
Rewards
When committing this much time to a specific mode, the rewards have to be worth it. This is the case in FUT Champions. The competitions are split up into 5 different categories:
- Bronze (1, 2, and 3)
- Silver (1, 2, and 3)
- Gold (1, 2, and 3)
- Elite (1, 2, and 3)
- Top 100
Bronze 3 is the lowest rank, whilst the Top 100 category is the top 100 players in the world that are competing. An average FIFA player could expect to see themselves in the Gold tier for their efforts when playing all 30 games.
Bronze Ranks
The highest Bronze tier offers the following:
- 7,500 Coins
- 1 Premium Gold Players Pack
- 500 FUT Champions Points
Silver Ranks
The silver tier is a step up in terms of rewards. The highest Silver tier offers the following:
- 20,000 Coins
- A Jumbo Premium Gold Player Pack
- 1 Mega Pack
- A Special Player Pick
As well as these great prizes, Silver 1 is the lowest tier for automatic requalification for FUT Champions. If you reach 11 wins, you get 2,000 FUT Champions points as a reward.
Gold Ranks
The Gold tier is getting into the big leagues in terms of rewards, as well as player skill. Gold 1 offers these things:
- 50,000 Coins
- 2 Jumbo Rare Player Packs
- 2 Special Player Picks
- 2,000 FUT Champions Points
Elite Ranks
Elite is the highest tier that players can reach outside of the Top 100. This is where most great players sit after committing themselves to the game for the whole weekend. Elite 1 offers some great rewards:
- 125,000 Coins
- 2 Premium TOTW Packs
- 2 Jumbo Rare Player Packs
- 3 Special Player Picks
- 2,000 FUT Champions Points
Top 100 Ranks
Finally, the Top 100 is for the best of the best FIFA players. Most players in this category will go unbeaten in FUT Champions, winning all 30 games. The number 1 spot for FUT Champions offers the following:
- 250,000 Coins
- 1 Ultimate TOTW Pack
- 4 Jumbo Rare Players Packs
- 5 Special Player Picks
- 2,000 FUT Champions Points
As you can see, the rewards are certainly worth the time from the Gold tier onwards. This is where most players will make a lot of coins in FIFA Ultimate Team.
Division Rivals
I have previously made an article about Division Rivals. It is FUT’s new mode, which has replaced Online Seasons. In this mode, you will play throughout the week, and weekend, to rank up and get points. Once you get a certain amount of points to reach a rank threshold, you will earn the rewards that come with that rank.
You are also given a skill rating; this will increase and decrease based on the games that you play. The skill rating gives you a division to play in, and the higher your division, the better the rewards. This is a tough concept to get your head around. However, once you play the mode, you will get a feel for how it works.
Matches
You can play as much or as little as you like during the Divisions Rivals week. When you do play a game, you are matched with opponents that are at a similar rank to you, which leads to fair matchmaking.
Rewards
The community does not know the full rewards system for Division Rivals just yet; however, I can give you the average rewards that most players will get.
For division 5 (the middle division) the rewards are split into five ranks. As the community plays more games, the amount of points required for a rank goes up. This means that you can never be safe in a rank until you know the final result on Thursday at 8:00 a.m. BST.
However, rank 1 for division rivals offers 3 choices of rewards:
- Coins
- 58,000
- Tradeable Packs (you can sell the items for coins)
- 2 Jumbo Premium Gold Packs
- 1 Rare Players Pack
- Untradeable Rewards (you can’t sell the items)
- 4 Jumbo Premium Gold Packs
- 2 Rare Players Packs
These rewards are quite good; however, they require a whole week of constant catching up if you drop out of a tier, which can be quite annoying and tedious.
Squad Battles
Finally, Squad Battles is a mixture of Division Rivals and FUT Champions, but it is a single player mode. EA randomly gives you four different squads from around the FUT world each day. You then compete against these squads for points. The higher the difficulty you play on, the more points that you get.
The comparison to the two online modes is through the rewards structure. Squad Battles has the same tiers as FUT Champions (Bronze through Elite and Top 100), but you need to keep up with community points to earn these ranks, similarly to Division Rivals.
Since this is a single player mode, the rewards are not as great, but the mode offers the least challenging opponents for decent prizes. Players are given the option to play up to 44 games throughout the week (1:00 a.m. BST Monday – 1:00 a.m. BST Monday). Players are given four teams each weekday, then 12 teams on Saturday and another 12 on Sunday. This is a lot of games and can become a chore for some players. However, it is a stress-free way of earning a good amount of coins.
Most players will find themselves in Elite 1 for the ending of Squad Battles; this would require you to take out an hour of each day to complete the games at a professional difficulty, which is quite easy. Elite 1 offers the following:
- 38,000 Coins
- 2 Rare Mega Packs
This is 140,000 coins worth of rewards, which is great for some easy single player matches.
Conclusion
So, we are left with the final question: Which mode is the most worth it? Well, it really depends on who you are and how much time you have to spare. I personally play all three for maximum profit.
However, if you are someone who only has time to play one mode, Squad Battles is easy but offers the least amount of coins. If you are someone who rages at FIFA, this is the mode for you. Division Rivals will surely become less competitive as the days go by. So this is the mode to play if you are looking for moderate rewards and a slight challenge. As well as this, you don’t have to play games all week in Division Rivals; you can play as much as you like.
FUT Champions is for the most hardcore players. This is certainly the most rewarding mode, but you need time to compete in it. This would be great if you work throughout the week, but like to do your own thing on the weekend. However, you should beware that FUT Champions is highly competitive and often causes rage among most players!
What do you think of the new modes in FIFA 19 Ultimate Team? Which one will you play? We’d love to hear from you. If you enjoyed this article, feel free to check out our other FIFA coverage.
Trending
