FIFA 22: Lionel Messi is OFFICIALLY fodder in Ultimate Team

There comes a time in every Ultimate Team cycle where the basic gold cards become nothing but SBC fodder, but this has come earlier in FIFA 22!

We are still in March, and there is now just one gold card left that is valued above what we would use to complete SBCs.

Even the greatest player of all time is not immune to the muddied market this season, and you can put Lionel Messi and CR7 in your team for around 200k. Insane.

All-time low

Who would have thought that 93 OVR Lionel Messi would be popping up in the cheapest SBC solutions... in March!

Well, that's what has happened as Messi features in one of the solutions for his teammate Kylian Mbappe's Player of the Month SBC card.

The price shown in the tweet is 90k, and at the time of writing it has risen back up to 100k, but it still shows a huge drop for even the top-rated items in the game.

Currently, Messi is one of three gold players worth over 100k, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe the other two.

Leagues apart

While all the gold cards in the game are plummeting in price, Mbappe sits above the rest as his gold card is probably the only one left worth using in-game.

The FIFA 22 cover star is just phenomenal in the game, and his various special items are so expensive, that his gold card is still sought after.

We don't need to tell you just how good he is in the game this year, but the 97 Pace and 88 Shooting will likely see him useable until the very end.

It really does highlight the value of pace in the game when even the 90+ rated players are being discarded to bring in EA's plethora of special items.

Spoilt for choice

Yes, the promo events in Ultimate Team are fun and ultimately where EA makes a lot of their cash, but are they ruining FUT as we know it?

We love the promos, but the constant releases and mini-releases have led to too many special items in the game, making them a lot less special.

Packing one of the new cards and seeing the colours change is always a thrill, but then when your third Lucas Torreira walks out it can drive you mad.

Maybe the solution in FIFA 23 is not to limit the number of promos, but to decrease the number of items released to maintain a balance between basic and special items.