FIFA 14: FUT MLS Players Guide

Dec 6, 2013; Kansas City, KS, USA; Seattle Sounders player Clint Dempsey speaks for a promo after playing a game of FIFA 14 on a Microsoft XBox One console during the World Cup draw event in advance of the MLS Cup at Sporting Park. Mandatory Credit: Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

I really love me some FIFA 14.

It’s easily my favorite sports video game series right now, and don’t get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy most sports games, especially EA’s “NHL” series and Sony’s “MLB the Show” series. But the absolute pinnacle of sports video games today has to be EA’s FIFA series, with its great controls and surprising realism.

In FIFA 14, along with the regular gameplay mode of selecting whatever team you want, there is another mode called “Ultimate Team,” where you collect cards of players from leagues all around the world, and build an 11-man team (plus substitutions) to compete with other players online. Basically, you build your own fantasy team using your favorite players.

The most popular leagues to build teams around, as you could imagine, are the real life big European leagues, such as the Premier League and La Liga. But some players enjoy building teams based around their home nation’s leagues, and since this is “MLS Multiplex,” you can guess which league we’re going to be building a team around. MLS has a surprisingly decent player selection, and is able to compete with quite a few of the bigger league teams, despite the seemingly low ratings of its players.

Just a quick aside before we start: team chemistry is a big factor on how your team performs on the field in FIFA 14, but since we’re going to be using players all from the same league, we’re not going to have to worry about that. But to make sure you get maximum player chemistry, use a manager whose league is set to “MLS.” All of your players should each have a chemistry of 10, thus getting the most out of them.

Also, just a few resources that I use to help with my team building:

• FutHead: In-depth player statistics and team-building tool
• Ultimate Team Trading: Keep up-to-date on the prices of all players in the game