Sep 22, 2011
A lot of people have asked me “Is this a good trade?” when referring to Madden Ultimate Team card swaps, and it isn’t a simple yes or no answer most of the time. A lot factors in to what could be considered “good”, and I’ve narrowed it down to a few basic points to keep in mind as you navigate the market.
Perception Is Everything
My friend’s favorite team is the Patriots, and he is seething with jealousy over my Tom Brady card that I don’t have any attachment to, being an Eagles fan who can’t get over 2004. So, being a good friend, I ask what he would trade for it, expecting some lowball offer not worth consideration.
Surprisingly, he says “I’ll swap you straight up for Peyton Manning”. Now, if you’re like me, you view Manning as the ultimate QB, even over a multiple ring winner like Brady. So, at first reaction, it’s a great deal. I was stunned he would actually trade me Peyton, full contract of 10 games, for a Tom Brady that other than me knowing him as a top 2 QB held no value. Still, I wanted more. I wanted his FS Earl Thomas 82 OVR card. While you can’t do two-for-one trades, I sent him my worst card for Earl Thomas, and even swapped Brady for Manning.
Here’s where the perception comes in:
I told my brother about this deal all excitedly, and he was less than enthusiastic. “How could you give up TOM BRADY?!”, he told me. Making matters worse, I hadn’t realized Tom Brady was part of the 99ers Collection, so I missed out on the opportunity to cash in there. Ultimately, I’ve since upgraded my FS spot again, and Thomas was removed from the team. Manning has struggled under my play style, and overall it just didn’t work out how I wanted it to. If I had to do it again, I’d have just kept Brady. I let my opinion of a player cloud my judgement and prevent me from making the best possible move for my UT, and that is the last time I will ever rush into a trade without sleeping on it.
Teamwork
This one is more an eye of the beholder type thing to consider, as some will not care and others will find it vital varying on style of play. Consistency in your roster is a big factor in your “Team Chemistry” overall rating. If you’re trading a player away who is a position of importance, you could take a nasty hit in the Chemistry rating and those who play MUT know it can be very time consuming to raise that rating once, let alone having to restart every time you swing a deal. Then again, this rating appears to be mainly for aesthetic viewing, and won’t really affect your team’s performance if you have “stick skills”. I personally like to try to keep my starters as long as I can, provided I don’t find a drastic upgrade on the cheap or in a pack of cards.
Bottom Line
Ultimately, you are the only one who can decide if a trade is the best option. Unfortunately, even with tips, it is truly a trial and error experience for those who wish to do it. While it is true one mans trash is another’s treasure, as evidenced in my Brady/Manning deal, that treasure could in fact turn to trash without proper knowledge of how to effectively use that player. Of course, having Larry Fitzgerald on my MUT squad makes any QB’s job easier, yet I still wish I had never gone through with it. Hopefully seeing one person’s errors can prevent you from making the same mistake. That said, trading is very fun and easy to do in MUT, and I advocate it in full if you are into building a team though a way that often occurs in the real NFL.
Twitter Question of the Day
“I had a MUT in M10 and M11 under the XBOX Live gamertag [omitted]. I changed my gamertag to [omitted]. I can no longer retrieve my MUT to import into M12. Other EA Sports games handled my gamertag change without issue, including NCAA Football’s online dynasty, but Madden didn’t. I dispatched an email to EA Sports technical support and did not receive a response. How can I retrieve my existing MUT?”
I had the same exact issue this year. Unfortunately, it seems as if your Ultimate Team history is directly tied to your gamertag, rather than your EA Account information. Therefore, when you changed your gamertag, you cut off the ties to your MUT history as well, which is why your MUT showed up as “est. Madden NFL 12″. If I had known this before, I’d have thought twice about changing my gamertag. So, in a note to all, do NOT change your gamertag or you will lose your MUT history!
If you would like your MUT-related question featured in my next article, you can send me a tweet @RedZoneD25. Next week we will be discussing many of the brand new Collections as well as why I think having NFL legends is a great thing for the mode in general. Until then, happy card hunting!
RedZoneD25
MUT Mouthpiece, AskMadden.com
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