FIFA 23 FUT BALLERS MOUNT PLAYER REVIEW

And with that, we draw to a close the FUT Ballers promo and sit patiently awaiting a potentially game shattering FUT Birthdayapalooza.

In my opinion this type of promo has a serious place in FUT and I hope to see more going forward.  Especially earlier in the FIFA cycle you could see squads really benefit from FUT Managers grinding the game.

Whether or not your teams changed with some of these players, I think both the Reviews and Cop or Flop articles highlighted that there was a lot more than meets the eye with a lot of these cards… and at worst you now have some serious fodder for minimal in exchange.

Without further ado we jump into the final FUT Ballers card and the overall cherry on the icing on the cake… The free objective grind reward, FUT Ballers Mason Mount.

The continuation of the 4-2-2-2 offered a few positions for Mount, which I think speaks to his flexibility from statistics and play style.  However it was the RAM/LAM positions that I have been tinkering with the most, opening the door for Mount to come in a challenge for a spot in the squad immediately.  The HUNTER chemistry style provided some of the added pace and shooting boosts required for the job and all was set.

Mason Mount was the touch of class down the wing during a Rivals/First Owner grind in the following squad:

Overall

The most recent patch and addition of more responsive sprinting has certainly worked well for this card at least.  The EXPLOSIVE AcceleRATE was incredibly effective down the wing and allowed for some devastating counter attacks and a continuous outlet option.

With 4 goals and 8 assists in 7 games it is safe to say that Mount is not just a filler option or free piece of fodder.  I truly think that I will use this card consistently in my untradeable squad moving forward.  

Main Statistics – Dribbling

Dribbling Rating: 10/10

Pace Rating: 9/10

Skills: ★★★★

Traits: Flair

As with all of the FUT Ballers cards, the 90 rating across the board dribbling boost combined with the FLAIR Trait provides all of the requirements for a left stick dribbling dream.  There is a lot of rather fair criticism that none of the “Ballers” have 5 STAR SKILLS and the same applies here, but they all truly feel fantastic on the ball.

The 90 AGILITY, 90 BALANCE & 90 DRIBBLING are the key contributors to responsiveness that you feel when controlling Mount, who feels incredibly  agile for a 180cm | 5’11 card.  The Lean Body Type is only helping matters and really allows a sense of fluidity to everything Mount does on the ball.

Even more impressive was the first touch out of the dribble that Mount produces.  I mentioned the small EXPLOSIVE changes in the patch, which mixed wonderfully with the 96 ACCELERATION brought on by the HUNTER application.  The 92 SPRINT SPEED proved enough to keep the gap generated by the initial burst of pace.

Value/Fodder-Time

Value/Coins-Fodder-Time Rating: 5/5

According to the cheapest solutions on FUTBIN you are paying approximately 261k in coins to complete all of the FUT Ballers SBCs required to eventually grind Mount.  Now it is worth noting that there has been a ton of grindable packs and that these SBCs and the grind itself result in a ton of packs that would alleviate a lot of this cost.  But for the sake of numbers, 261k.

Next you count how much the cards that you receive are worth in terms of raw fodder.  Two versions of the SBCs, the collateral collection of the three MBS Pro League players and of course Mount himself totalling around 400k.  The packs from Squad Battles and Season Progress notwithstanding, there is a lot of return for this grind.

Is Mason Mount alone worth all of this time, I would say absolutely not.  But if you consider everything that benefits your club along the way… then it is a resounding yet  the value is there for coins, fodder and time.

Good vs. Bad 

Good vs Bad Rating: 5/5

Outside of the Dribbling and Pace, there are still some surprises with this card that produce results against difficult opponents.

+ HUNTER chem style continues to work magic on the Shooting with Mount.  The 96 FINISHING & 92 SHOT POWER felt more than adequate and alongside the FINESSE SHOT Trait there is a definite goal scoring threat within this card.
+ Playing as a RAM would not have lasted long if Mount could not deliver the goods when required, but as the video and 8 assists suggest, this was never an issue.  88 CROSSING, 89 LONG PASSING & 92 SHORT PASSING it is not overly surprising that Mount was class with the pass… But it is good to know that it definitely operates as advertised.

The margins are currently incredibly small between good and great cards… And of course the fantastic ones are all millions of coins.  In the case of Mount, his good moments could have been better and here is where he fell short.

- Never has 97 VOLLEYS looked so bad.  Not sure what was happening here, but after three attempts I simply gave up.  The 4 STAR WEAK FOOT was not as automatic as you would like either despite offering a few decent strikes.

- The 68 STRENGTH was always going to be an issue and was definitely noticeable in the wide areas of the pitch where jockeying for the ball happens regularly. 

Closing Words

There were a few categories that seesawed throughout the review.  The Physical was poor in terms of strength, but the 99 STAMINA on the wing was incredibly key to my success late in difficult matches.  The Defending should have been poor and moments where the 66 INTERCEPTIONS led to bounce back second chances were incredibly frustrating… Yet this card is such an ENGINE on the wing, Mount was actually quite impressive in the tackle and won back a lot of possession for the squad.

I wasn’t lying, I plan on using this card moving forward in a few of my squads and generally believe Mount can perform at the top level in the game.  The dribbling and ability to beat defenders on the wing was such an asset, while the ability to deliver the final pass made those moments even more rewarding.
It was a crazy grind… But one that certainly feels like it has paid off overall.  Mount offers yet another example of the current plateau of players in and around the 8-9/10 range of quality and therefore competes just fine against the majority of options.  FUT Birthday could change this, but for now I see him as a usable option. 
Hoping you are well.  Cheers for reading.