FC 25 95 Shapeshifters Gundogan Player Review - Cop or Flop

The penultimate week of Shapeshifters is here and personally, I think I speak for everyone when I say we’re ready for Futties to begin. But we do have another week to go before we get there, and with Team 4 of Shapeshifters coming tomorrow, I'm ready for some fresh content.

Today however, we do have a brand new Shapeshifters item in the SBC section, and it is none other than Ilkay Gundogan! That’s right, a Shapeshifter's Gundo is here, and he comes in the form of a Striker role. He’s not had many special cards this year, so I’m absolutely ready to get my hands on this card. 

As mentioned, he has only had one special card so far this year, and it is the 89-rated Winter Champions card from back in December. This card sees a massive +6 overall boost with of course, 3 additional playstyle pluses in Technical, Pinged Pass, and Low Driven. Likewise, a +11/10 boost to Pace and Shooting as well as some +5/6s to the rest of his stats. He doesn’t look to be the “Endgame” striker, but he certainly looks like a fun and possibly cheap option to play with whilst we get there.

This Gundogan card defaults to striker so the Chemstyle of choice for me is the Hunter, as I was initially concerned that his Pace is going to struggle to compete with those top-tier items. But he can also play CAM and LW, so if you were to play him in those positions, perhaps the Engine is the play.

Here are the following segments to unlock the Shapeshifters Gundogan SBC:

Germany

# of players from Germany: Min 1

Squad Rating: Min 86

# of players in squad: 11

Manchester City

# of players from Manchester City: Min 1

Squad Rating: Min 88

# of players in squad: 11

Premier League

# of players from Premier League: Min 1

Squad Rating: Min 89

# of players in squad: 11

Just 3 segments in total to complete this SBC, with a price tag coming in at roughly 75k to complete. Honestly, considering we had the Dabritz SBC before that came in at a similar price. I expected this SBC to cost a whole lot more. So on price alone, this is a big win for me.

How did he perform in-game?

+ Shooting on this item is a clear and obvious win. He has that low driven plus, which is a necessity for any elite-tier striker. Outside of that though, he’s able to pack quite the punch in his shots and rarely misses his target

+ His dribbling is also of high quality. Utilising that technical playstyle on the edge of the ball felt unstoppable. He controls the ball so well and is incredibly well-balanced and agile.

+ Passing was pretty great for the build-up play. He has all those important playstyles such as Tiki Taka, Pinged, and Incisive pass that make him perfect for if you opted to play him at CAM.

+ Physically, he is absolutely sound. He’s not the strongest but possesses enough strength to hold his own up front.

- His pace certainly let him down in the striker role, though. There are so many faster striker options that I feel this is one of the main reasons he suits the attacking midfield role better than the forward role.

Gundogan - Cop or Flop?

Is this card the best Striker in the game? Absolutely not. If i’m honest, he really would suit the CAM position a hell of a lot more than he does the striker role. This card needed either a Quick Step or Rapid+ to complete the striker role. But this isn’t an expensive SBC and if i’m honest, I did not hate this card. 

He’s not anything special, but he’s certainly something different. I wouldn’t recommend completing this SBC if you are specifically looking for a new striker for your squad but if you are looking for a fun new card and have the fodder spare, this one isn’t going to break the bank, so you could absolutely cop this SBC.

Verdict = COP