Mbappé

“Kill them with success, and bury them with a smile.”   Was there ever a quote more suited for the baby faced assassin Kylian Mbappé?  It is almost impossible to remind yourself that the golden boy is still only 21 as he continues to produce astonishing numbers with the weight of the world on his shoulders.  Real-life success has often translated to FIFA success for Mbappé who has been a premier performer for three years running.  The same can be said for FIFA 21; and what else could you honestly expect from the cover athlete, other than perfection?  In saying that I can’t wait to read the comments, “Spoiler Alert: He’s good!” … and it would be pointless to discuss how good this card is as a whole, it is obvious that he is cracked and makes the starting 11 of the most expensive squads.  However, I absolutely had to take a look at the French speedster after wasting all of my pack luck in one Premium Gold Pack, as you may have witnessed on my Twitter: @IVIaeNine … and I still can’t believe it.  Again, rather than simply review the card for quality, I was most interested to see if using one of the absolute premium players in FIFA 21 could possibly push me into the elusive Elite 1 that I have been working towards for months.  In the end, I followed the popular trend of applying a MARKSMAN to Mbappé and placed him at the front of my 4-4-2 formation.  Throughout the weekend, Mbappé was the cream of the crop in the following squad: 
   

Overall

Rating: 10/10
Pace Rating: 10/10
Dribbling Rating: 9.5/10
Shooting Rating: 9.5/10
Passing Rating: 9/10
Physical Rating: 9/10
Defending Rating: N/A

In recent review comments, I mentioned that I would no longer be using the finite decimal points in my reviews and would stick to .5 or whole numbers to better separate the good from the great and create a more accurate system...  Let me know how you think it goes in the comments...  Right off the get-go and I already am not 100% sold on it though.  Mbappé is certainly not a perfect 10… but he is not a 9.5 either… but he is certainly closer to perfection than not and so I went in this direction.  Throughout the weekend I found myself (like a lot of you did) in situations where the connectivity with the game was in shambles.  While I started with the goal of Elite 1… it quickly dissipated and eventually, I even fell short of Elite all together for the first time in a LONG time.  None of this was down to Mbappé though… and instead, I just walked away feeling robbed that I didn’t get the full experience with this card.  When the gameplay was flying, so was Mbappé, and the 11 rage quits from this weekend (as seen on my Twitter spreadsheet) came down primarily to the work of the Frenchman.
 

Main Statistic - Pace

Pace Rating: 10/10

I have a lot of words I like to use to describe pace: lightning, speedster, quick … just to name a few.  But Mbappé does not have any superlatives that would do this card justice.  It is not just the speed but how incredibly smooth he feels on the ball as if he is gliding across the pitch… and no that is not the speed up lag… Mbappé seemingly disconnected from the ground as he floats among defenders.  However, the problem with laggy matches was just how notable the speed change was with this card and you literally feel like you are getting half the player.  Having previously used 99 ACCELERATION & 99 SPRINT SPEED players I can tell you that this card still feels quicker, and one step beyond your opponents spells game over for them.

Main Attribute - 4 STAR WEAK FOOT

Weak Foot: * * * * 

You might as well just call this card 5*  - 5*  because no one told Mbappé that he is not supposed to be as clinical on both feet.  This card is a fantastic finisher, which makes sense given the 99 FINISHING, 91 SHOT POWER & 89 LONG SHOTS … then you add in the FINESSE SHOT trait and you have a weapon of mass destruction if your opponent is not switched on to the danger.  My one issue again comes back to the poor gameplay, and for some unknown reason Mbappé was particularly affected by poor gameplay in the shooting department (maybe a result of the 4 STAR WEAK FOOT after all?)  In comparison, Del Piero continued to be just as clinical regardless of game speed… Mbappé went from Prime R9 to Morata at Chelsea from game to game.  
 

Value/Coins & Good vs. Bad 

Value/Coins Rating: 5/5
Good vs Bad Rating: 5/5

1.5 million coins!  An astonishing figure to spend on a card… and yet somehow every second opponent I face has Neymar standing alongside him, and CR7 or Cruyff on the opposite side?  Regardless I am tempted to put a 4/5 here following this weekend.  If the gameplay is reverting back to the hot mess of FIFA 20 then this card just won’t be worth it.  However, in the matches where Mbappé was cut loose from the lag infused chains, he was an entirely different animal than I have used this year.  Don’t get me started on the dribbling… like a breakdancer on the street corner literally dancing for his life… Mbappé glides around opponents and is as responsive as the menus on next-gen consoles.  92 AGILITY, 82 BALANCE & 99 BALL CONTROL… this lad has the ball on strings.

Again the question remains… is it even fair to say “this card doesn’t perform in lag”?  Because that is my only issue and truthfully you can’t hold that against him… or maybe you can? When everything was moving along I was actually caught off guard by how effective Mbappé can shield the ball given his 86 STRENGTH.  Like a rock, you can put your foot on the ball, shield, and it is not going anywhere… than slingshot yourself out of that position and the counter-attack of wide open shot is on. 
 

Closing Words

In the end, I fell short of Elite.  Actually, I crashed down from it.  But I don’t feel that Mbappé can really take the blame for not shouldering more of the load… it just wasn't meant to be.  What I can say with confidence was how much fun I had reviewing this card during the weekend.  While the laggy matches and “rigged” experiences had me at the peak of frustration.  I could always rely on Mbappé to slide me back down Rage Mountain on his toboggan of intricate dribbling and punishing finishes.  The card is about as cracked as you can imagine… and in my mind worth the ridiculous price tag.  There are literally only a handful better… let me know if you have tried him and how he performed for you, especially your experiences with poor gameplay.  I am interested to know if I am alone in this feeling.  Cheers for reading. 
 

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