FIFA 23 WC TOTT Di Maria SBC Review - Cop or Flop?

Just for a moment. Imagine being Gonzalo Montiel. You’ve had a fairly average career, haven’t really ever had a full season starting, made the move to Spain from Argentina only to get just 18 appearances in the league. And then you find yourself in Qatar standing over a penalty to win the World Cup, ready to cement the legacy of your captain as the GOAT and bring joy to 50 million people.

And then you score it.

And are immediately forgotten because “Messi won a World Cup”. God love Gonzalo Montiel, I see you.

Anyway, in the immediate aftermath of the greatest game of football ever played, EA decided to finally give us some good World Cup content! An incredibly well priced Angel Di Maria Team of the Tournament SBC!

Check out the card! - Di Maria 90

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TOTT Di Maria SBC Requirements

Here are the following SBC Requirements you’ll need to complete for Mary’s Angel:

#1 - Portugal

In Form Players - Min 1 

Squad Rating - 83

Reward - Gold Pack

#2 - 85 Rated Squad

Argentina Players - Min 1

Squad Rating - Min 84

Reward - TOTT Messi Loan

#3 - 87 Rated Squad

87+ Rated Cards - Min 1

Squad Rating - Min 85

Reward - Prime Mixed Players Pack

Total Cost from scratch ~ 125K

Estimated Return From Packs ~ 7.5k

Wow. Just, wow. Bearing in mind Flashback Ronaldo, Stoichkov, even the two showdown SBC’s for the final, this price is just ridiculously good. With the majority of the cost coming from the 87 rated player and the IF, you should be able to bring this down to well under 100k with just a little bit of club fodder.

TOTT Di Maria SBC In-Game Analysis

This card is a joke! As a lover of his OTW card that was also an SBC right at the beginning of the game, I got very excited when I saw this SBC. Even with his 2-star weak foot, he has always been a menace to defend against. There’s just something about his dribbling and the way he performs skills that make him incredibly elusive.

This card is no different. His left-stick dribbling is some of the best I’ve used in the game and if you are an R1 dribbler, this card is about to make you very, very happy. I don’t know if it’s the flair trait, but it feels like Angel Di Maria just has more touches of the ball than any other dribbler and almost never has one of those clunkily executed skill moves. It’s always tight in.

However, the biggest improvement of this card is his 4-star weak foot. It was absolutely a necessary boost. But my god is it good. You can really rely on either foot in the box to finish. Outside the box, finesse on his left felt way better than outside the foot attempts. I wouldn’t be taking too much on his right though.

His passing is superb and his crossing is incredible. Crossing is so hit and miss this year but with Di Maria, he just seems to always find his target.

His pace is outrageous. Just burning almost any wingback he came up against, it’s almost unfair at times. Whilst his strength isn’t stellar and he will get shoved off the ball when shoulder to shoulder with strong defenders if he gets in behind they tend to not be able to pull him back. You can see in the clips Virgil Van Disney had almost no effect on him.

He’s an absolute delight to play with. To quote Blondie, “Mariiiiiaaaaaa, you got to see her!”.

How Does He Compare?

The upgrade to 4-star weak foot makes this comparison way, way easier than it would have otherwise been. We are going to kick off by comparing to another LW, Serie A, good nation SBC in the guise of EOAE Ribery.

The first thing to compare is that Ribery, in today's fodder market, would be 630k. Whilst he was cheaper on release, it’s fair to say he was about 4x more expensive. He has the 5 star weak foot which does boost him a little too. However, he only wins in 5 in-game stat categories when compared to this Di Maria. 2 extra finishing, 3 extra penalties, 1 extra short passing, 7 extra balance and 2 more stamina. Despite the 7 balance, this is an absolute shellacking by Di Maria.

Even links wise, Di Maria matches Ribery. Whilst France is an arguably easier nation for chemistry, Juve is a much easier club to link than Salernitana.

When compared outside of Serie A, Di Maria really sticks out like a sore thumb. When looking for players with 90+ in Pace and Dribbling and 85+ in Shooting and Passing, the cheapest player of the 30 that fit that criteria is Di Maria himself. In fact the next closest is Angel Correa’s showdown SBC at almost double the price.

This is honestly the best value for coins SBC I think we’ve had this year.

Di Maria TOTT - Cop or Flop?

This card has an unprecedented 95% upvotes. It’s difficult to get people to agree to anything at that level. If I asked “who wants free ice cream” I wouldn’t get 95% positive responses. 

Mattpro10 is clearly not a FUT Sheriff fan…

This is an outrageously good SBC. EA have genuinely smashed this. And whilst I don’t think it would be sustainable to get this level of card, for this price, all the time, it’s certainly a lovely surprise when it happens!

The is a heavenly SBC. And despite the copious number of players available, I’m loving Angel instead. 

SBC Rating: 10/10

COP

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