It's finally upon us. The planet's most loved sporting event of all time is finally here after four years of waiting. But for the gamers amongst us, the edge was taken off of the gruelling wait on May 29, when EA Sports released the completely free World Cup DLC for FIFA 18.
You can, of course, just jump in with a qualified national team of your choice – or create a custom tournament with, say, Italy, Netherlands, USA or Chile, for example, if your team didn't make it to Russia – and play immediately, but there is also a World Cup version of the hugely popular Ultimate Team mode.
In it, there is a revised chemistry system that sees players benefit most from lining up alongside fellow countrymen, while charges from the same federation (UEFA, CONMEBOL, CONCACAF, etc.) will also provide a stats boost.
New Icon cards such as Bobby Moore and Gary Lineker have been added with the update as well as new Squad Building Challenges, while qualified players have had their ratings refreshed (improved in a lot of cases) and could see those numbers rise even higher if they put in an impressive performance in Russia – stay tuned for more on that in the next FUT report.
One major difference between regular FIFA 18 and the World Cup UT mode is a lack of a transfer market, so let's look at how we get started, how to pick up some great cards, the strongest confederations and who perhaps to avoid as we endeavour to lift the digital version of the most prestigious trophy on earth.
Starting Out
Like its parent version, FUT in the World Cup mode will give you a random squad of players when you start out. Unlike the original version, however, there is a far better chance of pulling a higher quality of player due to the nature of the competition.
The chemistry of your squad is likely to be poor, however, as there is no guarantee you'll get all the right players for the necessary positions you want to use in your formation. Additionally, it's very unlikely that your squad will all be from the same nation or even the same confederation.
It's not all bad though. Depending on your pulls, your better players might give you an idea of which confederation you'll want to make up the majority – or all – of your starting XI.
Which leads us to...
Which confederation should I pick?
The short version? UEFA or CONMEBOL.
There are far more high quality players from Europe and South America going to the World Cup, so it makes sense to choose from the biggest pools.
The best player in the game, Cristiano Ronaldo, could line up next to, say, Robert Lewandowski, with someone like Kevin De Bruyne pulling the strings from midfield.
Or maybe you'd prefer Lionel Messi and Neymar flanking Luis Suarez up top to relive the good old MSN days at Barcelona.
Remember that players will get upgrades if they perform well, too, so having access to a bigger group means more chance of keeping that good chemistry.
Which confederations should I avoid?
The rest, basically.
Mohamed Salah is the best player in the CAF pool, rated at 88, but there's a big drop off in quality below him – and his Liverpool team-mate Sadio Mane is also a right-sided player in this mode. Unless you play with two right-wingers (and don't mind having only one good attacking side) it's probably best to steer clear of the African nations unless you fancy more of a challenge.
EA Sports
For CONCACAF, Keylor Navas, rated 86, is the best player in that particular pool of few options, while the AFC's best player is Heung-Min Son, rated 83.
It is, of course, up to you to decide if you really need that 100% chemistry, and it is possible to reach that target with one player who doesn't really gel well with the others on paper.
What's the best way to get better players?
Short version again? Playing games or buying packs.
Completing a group match will earn you one new player, while progressing from your group will earn you a regular pack which usually contains three. The same goes for knock-out matches (one player) and lifting the trophy (full pack).
You can use these players for Squad Building Challenges, of which there are some great basic ones to get you started. There are also confederation specific SBCs, nation specific SBCs which will land you a specific player (De Bruyne is Belgium's, for example), and upgrade SBCs.
EA Sports announced that there will be new SBCs every two days, but the best SBCs in our opinion (so far) are the Icon ones. There are currently two available: National Icon and Icon Upgrade (repeatable) and they're relatively simple to complete. If you're lucky like us, you might pull Brazilian Ronaldo (94) and Diego Maradona (97). Don't worry if you double up on your card pulls either, as EA have added a duplicate storage meaning nothing goes to waste.
And so, even if you're not one to spend your real cash on points to buy packs, you can still get a fantastic team together in a fairly short time. Happy hunting, gamers!