FC 24 87 Trailblazers Rodrygo Player Review

Friday the 13th would be an unlucky day for some, (Probably for most of us opening packs to be fair) but today is a new promo day and when I say new, I mean new. An exciting new promo has been released today in EAFC and with it comes some incredible cards that we can only dream of getting our hands on.

Team 1 of this Trailblazers promo sees the likes of Mbappe, Salah, Hansen and many other incredible cards currently available in packs. But today of course we are here to talk about the SBC portion of this juicy new promo. In the SBCs today we have been gifted a Trailblazers Rodrygo card. 

In the past I have typically viewed Rodrygo as the “poor man” Vini J. But I must say, I have been using his base card for some time now and I really like it. He comes in so clutch for me and having the flexibility to play on both the left and right has huge benefits for squad building. So when I heard he had a special card coming I was absolutely intrigued.

You can check out the card here!

For me, the biggest thing on this card is the ability to play at Striker. As now you can play him on either side of the wing or central at striker. On top of this, I was expecting this to be a minor plus-one upgrade on his base but again I was wrong. A plus-two upgrade is what EA have given Rodrygo here as well as his own Playstyle+ in the First Touch playstyle. 

Here are the following segments to unlock the Trailblazers Rodrygo SBC:

#1 - Top Form
# of TOTW Players: Min. 1
Squad Rating - 84
Pack Return - Small Prime Electrum Players Pack

#2 - LaLiga
# of Players from LaLiga EASPORTS - Min. 1
Squad Rating - 86
Pack Return - Small Prime Gold Players Pack

#3 - 87-Rated Squad
Squad Rating - 87
Pack Return - Small Rare Mixed Players Pack

#4 - 88-Rated Squad
Squad Rating - 88
Pack Return - Premium Gold Players Pack

As mentioned, Rodrygo was already present in my squad so an upgrade was welcomed with open arms. Running the attack alongside Leao, the two were an absolutely deadly threat. I was also keen to throw in Flashback KDB who of course has the Incisive Pass Playstyle+ as I had a feeling those throughballs being received by Rodrygo with the mix of both their Playstyles would be pretty OP in the game. It did not disappoint. 

For chemstyle, the clear choice for me was to go with a Hunter Chemstyle which nearly perfects his Pace boosting it up to 98 from 90, as well as boosting the shooting stat from 85 to 91. I found this near perfected Rodrygo, or should I say, Rodry-goal…. 

How did he perform in-game?

+ Pace. He was absolutely rapid for me. Worth noting that I found he near enough had a similar burst of speed as Leao does with his respective Playstyle+
+ Shooting on this card was phenomenal. He had an absolute rocket on him. At times it felt he had 90+ shot power despite only getting 84 in this stat with the Hunter.
+ Dribbling was also really good on Rodrygo, especially being able to have a perfect first touch of the ball. This led to him running circles around defenders and making a clear way through on goal.
+ Positioning is something that I found to be really good, he would make great runs and get into the perfect space to receive a good through-ball. I often found him sitting outside the box on corners ready to catch a rebounded ball and send it to the back of the net.
/ Passing for me was nothing to shout about, which is what makes me feel like he is better suited in the Striker role rather than playing on the wing.
- Strength is the obvious downside here, At 58 Strength you can expect him to get knocked off pretty easily.

Some real notable parts to shout about would also be his positioning and stamina. Throughout the game, he seemed to be putting in an absolute shift and giving 110% with no signs of wearing down. He also just almost always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, whatever his teammate's needs would be. 

Rodrygo - Cop or Flop?

I have first got to say, I was heavily expecting this to end up being an expensive SBC, as typically in the past EA have priced Rodrygo SBCs pretty high due to the Brazillian and Real Madrid links. But coming in at 400k, considering the fact this is a +2 on his base card as well as the addition of the Striker position and a playstyle+, I think this actually comes in at a really good price.

So the price is right, how about the performance? Well he has just as incredible as his base card. I wouldn’t say he is levels above but the additions as mentioned for me make it very much worthwhile the pickup. So for me this is an absolute must cop. Even if you aren’t currently using his base card, don’t sleep on Rodrygo. For me, he’s going under the radar a little bit and massively performs in high stake games.

Verdict = COP