FIFA Ultimate Team - known better by season regulars as FUT, EA's financially draining homage to the Panini sticker album - is back with FIFA 16. And this year's card-collecting, team-building online mode is sporting some killer new features. But for all of the new modes, prizes and menu shortcuts, the basics remain very much the same. So if your knowledge of chemistry is confined to that Breaking Bad box set you received last Christmas, here are some tips to help you build a finely-tuned squad.

 

Ultimate Team isn’t just about having the best players, and you can build a solid team via the auction house, without having to go through the coin flip of a rare gold pack only to receive one of our troll players. Play a few matches, build up a little stash of FIFA coins and then hit the auction house to track down some of our most underrated players. These are our favorites, but don’t forget - FIFA 16 Ultimate Team prices fluctuate far more than previous versions, so there are loads of bargains out there for wheeler dealers. We’ve got every position covered, so read on for all our top picks.

 

Now it is time to pick one captain from five options. From now on you should focus on the most important element of a successful Ultimate Team: chemistry. Your choice of captain largely determines the rest of your experience. Select players from the same country, the same club or league. This often means that although a player does not get the highest rating of five available choices, you pick him up still as a better player to prevent micro communication and breakdowns during the match. You can save time by already looking ahead how a player affects the chemistry of your team.

 

Putting aside the longstanding misgivings about how Ultimate Team commodifies the magic of football, and how it sort of encourages kids to gamble, it’s great. Draft takes the pleasure of building a team--piecing together strong chemistry, the thrill of opening packs--and gives it to you without the need to pull your main team apart. It costs 15,000 coins (or 300 micro transaction FIFA points) to enter, and of course Draft mode is, in the end, about making more money. But that’s OK if it’s something worth paying for, and Draft offers something more substantial than the chance to simply reveal a randomized selection of players.

 

Building a new team is a complex puzzle that’s different with each Draft, and winning a few games delivers substantial rewards (my first four-game winning streak gave me a total return of around 60,000 coins, which is a fine start to the season). More successful is is the new FIFA Ultimate Team Draft, which is similar to Madden's Draft Champions, but with a few key differences. As with Draft Champions, the FUT Draft lets you choose from a pool of randomly selected players to put together a dream team and try to win as many games as possible. Unlike Madden, though, EA Canada makes no bones about the mode being there to grind coins and acquire players for Ultimate Team. There's a fee to play - 15,000 coins or around $3 in real money - but much greater rewards.

 

Finally, players you find in packs and those who were originals on your FUT team will have solid chemistry from the beginning. Meanwhile, players who arrive via transfer need to put in 10 games to gel with their new teammates. While a bit of a grind, the ability to adapt and improve is how things work in real-world sports, and is nice to see in a video game. Ultimately you’ll benefit most from scouting and then developing a team. The more you tinker, the better results and greater rewards. Now go out there an rule the international scene!