Reviews

Off the back of my worst weekend league finish ever - 8 miserable wins in a row to leave me silver 1, an agonising 1 win from my 2 player picks on Thursday - I punted a few untradable rare golds into the Premier League Upgrade SBC and received my consolation, and then some, from EA. When the light blue waterfall of TOTS flares went on in the tunnel I was a little confused, having never seen them before. But when the Belgian flag came up I knew what was coming and I felt a wave of ecstasy pulse out from my chest as the card became visible and De Bruyne lurched on screen imitating a T-rex/velociraptor for some reason.

I had to try him out straight away so he went into my pretty average team alongside base Pogba and behind base Heung-Min Son and my red pick Martial from a couple weeks back. First game in rivals division 7 my opponent disconnected immediately, clearly intimidated by the Ginger genius. Second game De Bruyne got his debut goal, the first of many to come, by being first to a rebound and slotting it in. Didn’t get too much of a feel for him in this game because of an early rage quit but it was noticeable how much he was sprinting up and down the pitch, determined to be involved and it was a neat finish.

The third game is when he was truly unleashed. With only two minutes on the clock he pounced on a pass at the back, took one touch to get a sight of goal past the defender, then curled it into the top corner with a power finesse from outside the box. From that moment on, it was the Kevin show. He was everywhere on the pitch: intercepting passes and tackling in my half, then suddenly teleporting forward to receive (admittedly hopeful) through balls beyond the opponent’s defensive mids, contorting his runs to evade the opponent’s defenders and the laws of physics then distributing the ball effortlessly or pushing it between the back 2 to make a chance for himself. When play slowed, he found space on the edge of the box to take a punt from range. But to call them punts would be a disservice, so precisely targetted were his missiles. In the end, he scored 5 of my 6 goals, all of them works of art.

He was almost too good in games to come. He feels like he was transported from an earlier, arcadier Fifa: maybe Fifa 14. It’s becoming difficult to use the players around him, who now feel drunkenly sluggish. If you’re lucky enough to get a hold of this card, you won’t be disappointed. And if you’re somehow sitting there with a couple million coins, sell your team and buy this guy. He could be the only player on the pitch and you’d still win half your games.

My luck this season has been generally incredible, highlighted by somehow pulling KDB tradeable from one of the 100 packs I saved for EPL TOTSSF. This left me with a big decision to make: sell him for 3.5 mill and rebuild the entire squad, or keep him and experience what it's like to play with one of the best cards in the game. I'm not the greatest at FIFA nor usually the luckiest with packs, so I figured I'd take this one and only chance to try out a best-in-class player.

My review below is broken into two phases. In the first phase I needed a CAM, so that's where I played him, but I can tell you now that to really unlock the magic of this card you need to shift him further back on the pitch. I played him at CDM in the 2nd phase.

First Phase (CAM, 4-2-3-1)

It's impossible not to notice his pace and shot power. KDB scores two goals on his debut and guides me to a best-ever finish in WL (Gold 2). Every chance I create for him, he puts away.

The problem is: it's not that easy to create chances for him. His pace is incredible, but his agility and acceleration are not. My two other CAMs, birthday Ozil and PIM Laudrup from swaps, are much better at snaking past opposition defenders. I find that I'm using him more to bust a gut up and down the pitch, tracking back, harrying, winning the ball and then carrying it back to the opposition box, which gives me the idea to shift him into an aggressive box-to-box role.

Second Phase (CDM, 4-2-3-1)

In the time before KDB, I played with both CDMs on Stay Back and would trigger their runs manually. I found that was the only way of getting enough security through the middle against the overused 4-1-2-1-2.

However, I decided to push De Brunye into one of these CDM slots and changed his instructions to Get Forward. This proved to be the best decision I've made this year in FIFA.

I discovered that what ties all of KDB's attributes together is his neverending STAMINA. The guy is literally everywhere. When the opponent looks to play a long ball over the top, I close him down with KDB, confident in the knowledge that the AI will bring him back to my box before any of the opposition's supporting attackers due in part to his high defensive work rate. If your Neymars, Mbappes, or Ben Yedders manage to get past him, KDB is able to make up the yards due to his exceptional pace. But the reason this card is absolutely elite is after winning the ball back, he can carry it halfway across the pitch, shield, lay off to an attacker, and stay involved with forward play.

He is a complete, perfect, central midfielder. He simply does not tire. Give him attacking and defensive responsibilities and watch as he does the job of two or three normal players.