What is TOTS? FIFA 16’s Team of the Season, explained
FIFA 16 Ultimate Team’s biggest event of the year is here.
FIFA 16 Ultimate’s Team’s biggest event of the game’s life cycle is upon us.
“Team of the Season”, better known in the FIFA community as TOTS, is roughly two months of weekly releases of super charged player cards from most of the world’s top leagues.
While the likes of Neymar, Messi, Suarez and Cristiano Ronaldo are venerable locks, some of the more intriguing selections will be the likes of Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane getting the best cards they’ve ever received in any edition of FIFA Ultimate Team.
Whether you’re a casual FIFA player new to FUT or a hardcore Ultimate Team enthusiast alike, there’s a ton of ground to cover. Let’s start with the basics:
What is FIFA Ultimate Team?
Ultimate Team is the FIFA video game series’ most popular mode. It’s part FIFA-powered fantasy football, part football card collecting. Essentially you buy individual player cards or open packs of cards in an effort to assemble the best team possible. Player in-game ratings and performances are amplified by creating lineups of players of the same nationality, league, and/or club.
Like many of the more played games these days, the game-within-a-game is essentially a “freemium model”. It’s possible to play hundreds of games without ever spending a dime and amass a pretty respectable team, but if you want to really boost your chances of a true super team, you’ll have to spend real money to buy in-game currency.
What can you buy with the in-game currency?
FIFA points, which come in denominations ranging from 100 (£.79 or $.99 US) to 12,000 (£79.99 or $99.99 US), can be used to purchase an assortment of packs of player cards, in-game items and various consumables. In-game items range from kits/uniforms to stadiums while consumables allow you to increase the number of games you can play with your player cards or to recharge their fitness levels.
There are 23 known pack types with a minimum of six base variety packs available at any time. During big events like Team of the Season, limited edition/count restricted additional variety of packs are usually made available. There are also “Lighting Rounds”, where better packs are available on a first come-first serve basis.
I’m not trying to spend money. Can I still have a good time?
Sure. If you love playing FIFA, it’s extremely possible to grind your way to a good team. It’s going to take time and patience to build a competitive one, though. And you’re less likely to ever have a superteam if you don’t open up your wallet.
Should I open packs? And if so, which should I open?
I’m personally of the opinion the ROI on spending coins, the other form of in-game currency in the game which can’t be purchased, to buy packs is too low to make it worthwhile. If you’re not willing to buy FIFA points to open packs, your best bet is to use the coins you accrue from playing games to buy players on the transfer market.
If you’re going to spend money at all, the Mega Packs (aka 35K packs), Rare Players Packs (aka 50K packs) and Jumbo Rare Players Packs (aka 100k packs) give you the highest odds of pulling the best possible players. They are not coincidentally the three most expensive packs you can buy.
Can I get one of those super charged cards just by playing games?
Maybe. EA in the past have done special tournaments which if you win (either against the computer or against fellow FIFA players) result in packs (or rarely a player) as prizes. The packs in these prizes are usually untradeable meaning whatever cards you get will either be part of your team forever or you’ll have to discard them for no coins.
How does Team of the Season (TOTS) work exactly?
Each week, one or more team of 23 players representing the best from a particular league or geographic region will be released into packs. When those special cards are in packs, they replace the ordinary (or non-in form) version of those player cards. When Liga BBVA, the biggest and best league in Spain, has their TOTS in packs, for example, you won’t be able to pack pull the ordinary 90-rated Neymar. Instead, only his blue higher rated card will be available in packs.
How long are those special TOTS cards in pack?
For the biggest leagues, usually a full week. For some of the smaller ones (the lower level English clubs, for example), typically only three days.
What dates do each of the TOTS come out?
This season represents the first time the big leagues will be released each Friday, beginning with the Team of the Season Most Consistent Without an Inform, a collection of players who have been consistently outstanding in real life but haven’t been a part of any of FIFA’s Teams of the Week in the last league calendar year.
Assuming all last year’s teams are both the same ones released and in the same order, here’s the remaining releases to expect:
Ligue 1 Team of the Season
Available in packs: May 27, 2016
Serie A Team of the Season
Available in packs: May 27, 2016
Turkish Super Lig Team of the Season
Available in packs: May 30, 2016
Rest of the World Team of the Season
Available in packs: May 30, 2016
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EASFC Team of the Season
Available in packs: June 3, 2016
What all TOTS have come out already?
The three community selected Most Consistent Without An Inform teams were released April 29.
The Barclays Premier League Team of the Season dropped May 6.
A special 48 hours release of the Lower English Leagues and Benelux (featuring the Netherlands and Belgium’s top leagues) was released May 9.
The Bundesliga Team of the Season was put into packs May 13.
Another 48 hour release of the Portuguese Liga NOS and Saudi ALJ League debuted May 16.
On May 20, a super OP Liga BBVA TOTS was released.
The following Monday, May 23, a Latin America all-star TOTS plus the Russian Premier League TOTS came out.
Friday, May 27 saw the release of both Ligue 1 and Serie A.
On Monday, May 30, the Turkish Super Lig and Rest of the World TOTS were put into packs.
When is the best time to open packs to maximize my chance of getting a special blue Team of the Season card?
It really depends. What league does your favorite team play in? Which is your favorite league to watch? Which league are the majority of your FUT team’s players from?
Those are all questions to factor into your pack opening calculus.
If your sole goal is to maximize your cost efficiency and ensure you have the best chance of pulling a blue card, between Monday, May 30, 2016 and Wednesday, June 1 would seem to be your best bet. Four different full Teams of the Season will be available simultaneously then.
Are there any other ways to get blue TOTS cards?
You could play FUT Draft. Introduced this FIFA, FUT Draft lets you spend a 15,000 coin or 300 FIFA Point buy-in to draft your own team from scratch and play through a one-off tournament online or against the computer for prizes. The online prizes predictably are better.
If you lose in the first round, you’ll roughly get a FIFA Point equivalence of your entry fee. For each subsequent win, however, up to a maximum of four, your prizes get better and better.
If you want to spend money, play with some outstanding players (including Team of the Season players) you might not be able to afford otherwise and improve your ROI in terms of money spent-to-quality of packs received (especially if you’re an experienced FIFA player), FUT Draft might be your cup of tea.
I’m a FUT veteran. What’s in for me?
Besides the adrenaline of pulling first-owner blue cards, the FUT team’s pulling out all the stops this year.
In addition to at least 15 different Team of the Season squads (which would match last year’s record number of teams), a variety of never before released packs have been made available.
EA Sports has also showcased a number of in-game TOTS themed tournaments with cool rewards (like untradable blue cards and packs) based on the number of tourneys you win.
