POTM August - Potential Investments

FIFA 17 was a fantastic year for ultimate team players with EA introducing a whole heap of new features. SBC's were one of the key additions, allowing players to obtain additional packs, players or simply coins through investment on a regular basis. 

The PL POTM was a challenge we saw throughout the year, a 3/4 part SBC rewarding packs for each challenge and a premium POTM card for completing the group. Last year Raheem Sterling won the August POTM award and hence was the first challenge we saw released. If EA are to follow this pattern throughout FIFA 18, then Sadio Mane will be the first to drop, having already won the August award.

Now this puts us in a fantastic position. Provided we believe that this SBC we repeat itself again this year, we can use the template of last years challenges to predict what the SBC could involve. Whether we plan on finishing the challenge, parts of it or even just simply investing to make some coins, there is some value to be found. 

August POTM 2016 - Raheem Sterling

With the game new, the market fresh and players coin totals being fairly low on average, EA would find it difficult to overprice the first POTM challenge. A prime example of this is the SBC we received for Sterling last year.

Manchester City

Manchester City Players: Min 11
Overall Team Rating: Min 81
Overall Team Chemistry: Min 100

Fairly straight forward here. They took the club of the winning player and then required a squad consisting of 11 players from it.

Premier League

Premier League Players: Min 11
Rare Gold Players: Min 11
Overall Team Rating: Min 83
Overall Team Chemistry: Min 100

The league in which Sterling plays (obviously), and where he has always played. The rating is a little higher here simply because there were so many more options for usable players.

England

English Players: Min 11
Overall Team Rating: Min 81
Overall Team Chemistry: Min 100

Finally we saw his nationality come into play. A full squad consisting of players only from England. A rating of 81 is in line with the availability of higher rated English players.

August POTM 2017 - Sadio Mane

The first thing we need to take into account is that Mane has a higher rated base card than Sterling had last year. This in turn will ensure that the reward card has a higher rating than that of last year and hence will likely make the challenge that little bit more expensive. Obviously we are unable to know exactly what the SBC will entail, but what we can do is look at some of the possibilities.

All ratings and squads are ideas only, nothing is confirmed and hence nothing is guaranteed.

Liverpool

Liverpool Players: Min 11
Overall Team Rating: Min 81
Overall Team Chemistry: Min 100

First up is Mane's current club, Liverpool. While being widely supported across the world, the amount of higher rated players available is definitely on the lower side. It's possible to create an 82/83 rated squad, however we would be using a lot of big, expensive players, players that will be in low supply so early into the game.

Premier League

Premier League Players:  Min 11
Overall Team Rating: 84/85
Overall Team Chemistry: 100

Next up we have the premier league. Now with the wide variety of players available, the lack of rating available from his club and the fact that his card could be 86 rated, there is a strong chance that we could be seeing an 84/85 rated team requirement here if used. If investing, make sure you cover any potential formation they decide to through at us!

Past Clubs

Ligue 1 - FC Metz
Austrian Bundesliga - Red Bull Salzburg
Premier League - Southampton 

This was a feature we saw pop up throughout challenges last year. The requirements would often base themselves around clubs that the winner had previously played for. Sometimes we get lucky, and the player had just one previous club, or they were from the same league. This time however Mane has three previous clubs, from three different leagues.

Once again, there is no guarantee any of these will be included, but while we can buy players for discard there is no harm in preparing.

Senegal

Players From Senegal: Min 11
Overall Team Rating: 75-78
Overall Team Chemistry: 100

Nationality was a favourite from EA last year, and there is no apparent reason this should change in FIFA 18. The lack of gold Senegalese players means we would have to dip into the silver and bronze markets, which immediately reduced any possible rating requirements. 

There is always a chance that they use this, but only require a small amount of Senegalese players, but however you believe it could pan out will shape any investments you make.

August Opponents

Players From X: Min 2
Overall Team Rating: Min 81
Overall Team Chemistry: Min 100

Mane won the award during the month of August and hence having a challenge based around the teams he played is possible. 

In August Liverpool played against Watford, Crystal Palace and Arsenal. A team consisting of 1/2 players from each of these clubs alongside a chemistry and rating requirement isn't something to rule out.

Sadio Mane

Liverpool Players: Min 1
Players From Senegal: Min 1

A bit of a long shot here, but we have seen it included previously. The challenge was used last year for the likes of Ibrahimovic and required just the one player, the man himself. 

Being so early into the cycle and noting the lack of cards available on the market this seems unlikely, but was worth a mention in an attempt to cover all bases.

Special Cards

Just like the use of Mane himself, the need for special cards seems like a fairly unlikely scenario. Last year as the year progressed, informs became a common occurrence with such challenges, but with the game being new and the distinct lack of them available it seems highly unlikely for now.

 
Final Thoughts

Be wary that while we can attempt to predict these, we can never be sure and hence no investments are without risk. We also need to keep in mind that even if we guess the requirements, other items such as formations could catch us off guard, make sure you prepare for such situations when picking up players!