FIFA 23 World Cup Hero Fernando Morientes SBC Review - Cop or Flop?

We have our second World Cup Hero SBC, and after the first Cop or Flop on a WCH went so swimmingly, I’m sure this one will be just as well received!

As we approach the end of the second round of fixtures, a player from one of the early tournament favourites, Spain, has been given a shiny new card. Raul’s less sexy strike partner, Fernando Morientes, has been given the Marvel treatment and a very intriguing 90-rated card.

Check out the card! - Morientes 90

One of the biggest victims of the “lengthy killer” patch. Morientes’ base Hero card had mostly fallen out of the spotlight before this SBC. However, behind a gorgeous looking card and dynamic image, this is essentially an In Form upgrade to his Base version, but is it worth it?

World Cup Hero Morientes SBC Requirements

Here are the following SBC Requirements you’ll need to complete for the World Cup Hero Morientes SBC:

#1 - Top Form

IF Players - Min 1 

Squad Rating - Min 83

Reward - Premium Gold Pack

#2 - Spain

Spanish Players - Min 1 

Squad Rating - Min 84

Reward - Small Prime Gold Players Pack

#3 - La Liga

La Liga Players - Min 1

Squad Rating - Min 85

Reward - Jumbo Premium Gold Pack

Total Cost from scratch ~ 200K

Estimated Return From Packs ~ 17k

I have to flag is that, at the time of writing, fodder is high in price. The Icon, Hero, Messi, 85+ Double, 83+ PP SBC’s (and more I’ve forgotten), coupled with most Black Friday packs being untradeable has really driven fodder to the highest price it’s been all year. On release, this SBC was around 140-150k. 

World Cup Hero Morientes SBC Analysis

In a slight change of format to Cop or Flop, I’m going to review the card on the stats, give my best chem styles for each play type and then a paragraph about how he’s played for me. Then I’ll cover the cost comparison in the “How Does He Compare” section.

This should give more of the rounded review it seems people are after.

The first thing to say about this card is that his shooting is immense. 94 positioning and finishing with 93 shot power mean you arguably don’t need to touch his shooting when looking at a chem style. He has fantastic physicals with 93 jumping, 86 stamina and 91 strength, and coupled with 98 heading accuracy it really makes this 6’1” striker a handful in the air and on the ground. He’s also been given the Outside of the Foot trait and Finesse trait, both are incredibly useful this year and just pump that shooting up even more.

However, his dribbling and passing are really found wanting. The persistent problem with lanky strikers is they tend to have awful agility and balance. The new patch seems to have really prioritised these stats and so 78 agility and 75 balance do drag this Morientes right down in terms of manoeuvrability. And whilst 86 pace is not terrible, it’s definitely not enough to make up for the shortfall here. 88 reactions and composure are both perfectly fine.

The real mystery for me is the passing. With the alternative positions of CAM and RW, you’d expect this card to be at least able to swing a cross in. However with just 73 crossing, 84 vision, 82 short passing and 70 long passing, this is “De Bruyne for Belgium” levels of underwhelming.

For me, this card has to be an out-and-out striker. That means either an engine to give you that extra agility and passing, a hawk to just make him a pure assassin or a hunter to give you that big pace boost. I personally prefer the engine as I like to play a lot of passes with my attackers but all 3 will still leave him with a rocket of a shot.

World Cup Hero Morientes In-Game Thoughts

I have played 15 games with this Morientes and, well, he’s annoying.

Whilst he has the best shooting of any card I’ve used on the game, he can be so underwhelming almost everywhere else. Even in the air I didn’t feel he played to his stats. If you have played with, and like, WCH Papin, you will absolutely adore this card because he’s just Papin on speed. Far more physical and much harder to dispossess.

However, with the ball at his feet anywhere other than in the box, I often felt like he would let me down. Either with his awkward running style or with a wayward pass. He’s annoying because if he was just a little better at either, he would be a standout striker.

How Does He Compare?

The problem this SBC has is that base Morientes is just 38k. Whilst the +2’s in Pace and Shooting are not to be sniffed at, it’s not exactly a world changing upgrade. The same league means there’s no added fizz there either. He does have the extra shooting traits which do make him a little more meta but when one is 38k and essentially fodder, and the other is ~170k untradeable. Having used the Base Morientes (admittedly pre patch) this card just isn’t enough of an upgrade for that price in my opinion. 

Outside of comparing him to himself, when you look at the strikers cheaper than him, it starts getting difficult to justify putting your hard earned fodder into this card. IF Haaland is 150k and although he’s 3/3, he is absolutely more of a game changer than this Morientes. Much quicker, comparable shooting and just as poor passing and dribbling. Crespo’s World Cup Icon is only 160k and although he’s less of a big man, he has crisp dribbling and 5 star weak foot that really elevate him as a fun card to unlock defences. 

Heroes do, however, have superb links. La Liga is getting more and more OP by the week and the extra 2 league links offered by Morientes, coupled with his positional flexibility mean that you can very easily add him into a team to help get that next chemistry point. He also gets full chem regardless so even if you aren’t running a La Liga side but need a big striker, this can fill that role too which can’t be said of some of the comparisons. 

World Cup Hero Morientes - Cop or Flop?

This card has 60% upvotes and I think the price really does have the most say in that. Considering how expensive 88 Keane was, this 90 rated hero being 1/5th of that price piqued a lot of people’s interest.

I’m going to post a comment of someone else’s review of him. They had a very different experience to me and I think it’s good to display both perspectives, it also displays why I’ve tended to not let how a player plays for me make a huge difference on my SBC analysis. We all play slightly differently at the end of the day. 

This is a fun card.

However, I don’t think it will be one that you are using for more than a few weeks. His shooting cannot make up for his deficiencies elsewhere for me and with his base card so cheap, it really is tough to justify putting coins and fodder into this when there are so many other enticing SBCs around. 

So I have a lot of love for him, and his card design is sick, but For Nando, it’s a flop.

SBC Rating: 5/10

FLOP

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