It is obvious I suck at Madden 10 when given a serious disadvantage (i.e. a 62-64 rated team). It almost sounds contradictory saying these words (long suffering Falcons fans can relate), but there is a big difference in the 83 rated Madden 10 Falcons and subpar franchises like the Lions, Buccaneers, and Raiders. Playing with my poorly implemented GA TX Falcons collection of misfit cards is light years away from using the Atlanta Falcons.
Over the course of this week I have watched my Madden IQ plummet as the losses mounted. Saturday I finally decided enough was enough, so I took some corrective actions. First, I opted to switch to the “my skill” setting. My thinking was this would make things a little fairer since I am currently stuck in a complete swirl of suck. Second, I changed the camera angle from “standard” to the “wide” view. I am not a big fan the wide view in Madden 10; it seems too far away from the action, but on offense it does give me a better opportunity to see how the corners are playing my wide-outs. Finally, I decided to [cough, cough] buy a pack of Gold cards for $0.99.
The glory of a Gold pack made all the difference, as my team immediately improved from a 62 rating to a splendid 71. High cotton baby!
Thanks to the likes of Chris Johnson, straight away I picked up wins over the Buccaneers, Raiders, and the Bears. Technically on my first game out of the gate with my reinforced Gold lineup, I got disconnected. This sucked beyond all belief! Not only did the starters get docked a contract, but I had no opportunity to earn any coins. In other words, through no fault of my own, I got royally screwed.
By winning those games, and by making some decent coins in auction, I managed to purchase my Silver pack (1500 coins), which further supplemented my team. So for one weekend I was able to be a little bit better than dirt poor, but I am not really sitting pretty in the cat bird seat. I only have 800 or so coins, along with a mountain of cards that are about to expire in 2-4 games, including most of the players from the magnificent Gold pack, so I am going to have to make some difficult decisions.
The way I see it, I have three options. First, purchase more cards with “real” money. Second, purchase some contract cards. Third, sell enough players via auction to supplement future packs and cards.
The “real” money part is obvious. So far I have spent $0.99, and while I am not proud of the fact that I suck so bad at Madden 10 that I had to buy a bailout, it did make a huge difference in my performance. Instead of sucking, I can actually win a game or three. Plus I no longer want to throw a controller at the TV!
In my opinion the contract cards are not worth the coin investment because you get a contract card with the the purchase of Bronze, Silver, and Gold packs (at least I did based on my limited experience with Silver and Gold packs). I seriously doubt I will go in this direction unless I have some coins burning a hole in my pocket with a “cannot lose” this card about to expire. Besides, at the time of this article, I have two contract cards in hand.
My strategy for Bronze cards is fairly simple. These cards are fairly cheap, and very replaceable, so there is not much point in holding onto them unless they are at the top end of the Bronze scale. I have a handful of 70 rated cards; these cards are cheap to maintain from week-to-week. For the rest, I typically sell them in auction because I figure earning a few coins for a card is better than wasting the contract. Most of the Bronze cards have earned me 35-85 coins (and higher) without trying hard to really work the system, so I consider these sells nice bonus that help to supplement my incoming new packs.
Speaking of new packs, I would much rather be in a position where I am flipping Silver players and Silver packs, but I am not there yet. As cards expire, I doubt I will have the luxury of getting back to Silver pack territory (1500 coins) before I have to infuse my team with another pack of cards. As these cards leave my deck, I expect my rating to once again plummet, but such is life with MUT. These decisions are an enjoyable part of the game.
