You may already know what FIFA 15 Ultimate Team upgrades season is, but do you know exactly how it works? Follow this guide and get to know all about this theme.
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You can find the final list of FIFA 15 Winter Upgrades clicking here
FIFA 15 Ultimate Team Upgrades Guide
Q: How are players upgraded on FIFA 15 Ultimate Team?
A: Different to what happens on other game modes, the players aren’t automatically updated throughout the season according to their appearances in real life. Some may receive In Form cards, but most players remain with the characteristics they were given at the start of the season. In Ultimate Team, upgrades are made through the release of new cards in determined periods.
Q: When is it upgrade season on FIFA 15?
A: There are two upgrade seasons throughout the game: Summer and Winter upgrades. The first one happens within the transition of one FIFA to another looking to reflect the player’s evolution between two seasons. The second one, in February / March, rewards the players who stood out the most along the first half of the season with the release of new (improved) cards.
Q: What happens exactly if a player receives a Winter upgrade?
A: When a player is upgraded, the cards that start coming in packs have got the new ratings and attributes according to their performance on the real life pitch.
Q: If I have a card of a player that is to receive an upgrade, will this card get upgraded?
A: No. It remains exactly the same, with the original rating and attributes that were defined initially in the game.
Q: Can a player change categories if he is upgraded enough for that to happen?
A: Yes. As long as the upgrade gives him enough points for that, a player’s NIF card can go from bronze to silver or from silver to gold. The IF cards never change category, though.
Q: If I have an In Form card of a player that is to receive an upgrade, will this card get upgraded?
A: Yes. Different to what happens with the NIF cards, the IF cards released before the upgrades will be upgraded in the same proportion as those (but automatically) except if there’s already been a category change within the UP card attribution.
Q: Why are there some In Form cards that didn’t receive an upgrade although their NIF did?
A: All the gold players that receive upgrades and have got IF cards will have those IF cards upgraded as well. However, not all bronze and silver players’ IF cards are upgraded. The player’s IF card is only upgraded along the old card if his UP card is of the same category as that one.
Q: What’s the reason for there to be this exception?
A: According to EA, this is so “the IF card’s value and bronze/silver squads are not negatively affected”.
Q: Why wasn’t a certain player’s IF card upgraded if his NIF and UP were of the same category?
A: Probably because that IF card already had the maximum rating for its category: 64 or 74.
Q: All this is still a bit confusing. Can you explain everything again with examples?
A: Of course. Let’s take a look at Hazard’s original card on FIFA 14. He started the season with an 85 rating but in February he got an 88 rated UP card. His 85 rated card stopped coming in packs as soon as the 88 rated one was released, but his owners were never rewarded with any upgrade at all because that’s only valid for IF cards. Since Hazard already had three IF cards as from that day, respectively rated 86, 87 and 88, these were automatically upgraded to 89, 90 and 91, which corresponded to the 3 points upgrade his regular card received. Any other IF card that he was to receive after that would have been rated over 91.
For silver and bronze cards, IF upgrades are a bit more complex. Davy Klaassen started FIFA 14 with a 67 rating and eventually got a 71 rated IF card. His regular card was upgraded by 7 points, going from 67 to 74. Since both his NIF and UP cards are silver, his IF was also upgraded to 74 but with better stats than the UP. Different to the NIF, the IF cards can never upgrade to the next category even if there are enough upgrade points for that, which was Ajax’s midfielder’s case. If it had been an upgrade of just 1 or 2 points, the IF card would become 72 or 73.
Domenico Berardi’s case in FIFA 14 is another good example. He started the season with a 72 rated regular card and eventually received a 4 points upgrade, which made him go from silver to gold (76). Since his NIF card and UP card are of different categories, his two IF cards were never upgraded at all, they remained 73 and 74.
Q: Can there be two regular cards of the same player with different ratings?
A: Yes. That’s what happens when a player receives an upgrade, two cards start coexisting: one corresponds to the start of the season and the other has got improved ratings and attributes.
Q: When there’s an upgrade, which cards are the ones that come in packs?
A: The new ones. The improved cards take place over the original ones in packs, and those remain as they were.
Q: When do the new cards take place over the old ones in packs?
A: EA Sports don’t release them all at once. The usual expectation is for the biggest part of the update to be made in mid-February, in 15th of February. After this date there’s at least one other batch of releases. This year, EA released all the upgrades at once.
Q: Which cards are released first: transfers or upgrades?
A: Transfers.
A: Yes. Although, if you own a regular card of a player that was upgraded there won’t be any alterations.
Q: How many players receive new cards during the FIFA 15 Ultimate Team Winter upgrades?
A: It’s been estimated that up to 100 players can receive new cards. Only players that were really in great form are the ones that might achieve an upgrade.
Q: When were the upgraded players made available back on FIFA 14?
A: The first big batch of releases occurred on February 14th, 15 days after the first batch of player transfers. After that, there was a new update on March 6th.
Q: What are the cards that received upgrades in the last years?
A: You can see the ones from FIFA 14 here and the ones from FIFA 13 here. These lists give you an approximate idea of what will happen on FIFA 15.
Q: Where can I find the FIFA 15 Ultimate Team Winter upgrades?
A: Here.
Q: What players will receive upgraded cards?
A: The players that receive upgrades aren’t prior announced. However, it’s easy for people who keep up with football to list a few players that have good chances of receiving a new card due to their good appearances. Here are a few examples: De Gea (Manchester United), Alexis Sánchez (Arsenal), Naldo (Wolfsburg), Ivan Perisic (Wolfsburg), Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting (FC Scahlke 04), Antoine Griezmann (Atlético de Madrid), Nicolás Otamendi (Valencia CF), Carlos Tévez (Juventus), Paul Pogba (Juventus), Stéphane Ruffier (Saint-Etiene), Alexandre Lacazette (Olympique Lyon) e Yacine Brahimi (FC Porto).
Q: How can I predict which players have good chances of receiving an upgrade card?
A: Even if you don’t keep up much with the real life football, there are two indicators to help out in this prediction: the number of a player’s IF cards; constant rating upgrades on H2H.
Q: How do player upgrade cards look like?
A: They are the same regular cards as those on the image below. On most cases, the existent IF cards are also upgraded.
Q: What’s the difference between the original card and the new one?
A: Only rating and stats change. In some cases the position can also be updated. All the rest remains the same.
Q: Can there be downgrades?
A: The players’ ratings and stats are only looked at to be lowered between one FIFA to another. During the Winter upgrades, no player is downgraded.
Q: How many points are the players upgraded by normally?
A: For most gold players the upgrade is of just 1 or 2 points. Silver and bronze players are usually upgraded by at least 4 points, while in exceptional cases this upgrade can sometimes reach 15 points.
Q: Do the player’s upgraded stats increase proportionally?
A: Generally, yes.
Q: Can I have both the original and the new card in my club?
A: Yes. However, a squad can only have one of them.
Q: Can a transferred player receive an upgraded card?
A: Yes, he can. Although EA Sports try separating player transfers/player upgrades, there are rare cases in which the same player is both transferred and upgraded at the same time. In that case both situations are passed on to one single card.
Q: What advantage do the FIFA 15 Ultimate Team upgrades bring us?
A: The upgrades increase the squads’ quality level, diminishing the differences between the game and real life football. Besides, they can also represent good trading opportunities, mainly when it comes to IF cards.
Q: I already have a squad. What is it good to me?
A: If you’re already “done” with your squad, the upgrades increase your improvement opportunities. If your squad is based on a league, for example, upgrades can improve the players you already have or they can promote others for a position or two.
Q: How does the market behave with these new cards coming?
A: As we would expect, as soon as the UP cards are released their price stays fixed way above the regular ones. These, on the other hand, start their way down. Also, with time the UP cards lose value once their quantity starts being superior to the rest of the cards. The price difference between the UP card initially and the regular card depends on many factors, such as the number of rating points gained, stats bonuses or an eventual position change.
Q: Are there other trading opportunities during the FIFA 15 Winter upgrades?
Yes. When the player already has at least one IF card, this card is improved in the same proportion as the regular. That means if a player card had a certain rating and he received an upgrade of, for example, 2 points for his UP card, then all his IF cards are also automatically upgraded by 2 points. The only exception is when a player receives an UP card one category above his regular card. In that case the IF card remains the same. For people who own an IF card of a determined player, watching him receive an upgrade is great news. There are people who choose the risk to invest in IF cards of players that have good chances of receiving an UP in advance because they know that in case that happens the return will be enormous. The bigger the player’s rating and popularity, the bigger is the IF card’s valorization. In some cases profit can surpass 300%. At a long run, these cards follow a tendency we describe for a normal IF: the cheapest ones lose value, while the most expensive ones slowly have their price increased. If you’re thinking about investing in these cards, be careful not to bet on the cards that are already being way too speculated. It’s just that sometimes the speculation is so big around determined cards that, after the upgrades, the improved IF cards’ market prices are inferior to what they were before the announcement. On the other hand, if you have a NIF of a player you think is going to receive an upgrade, it may be a good idea to sell him in advance so you minimize the loss.
Q: What cares should I take with these new cards coming?
A: If you want to buy a NIF, make sure you’re not paying the price the UP demands. If you want to sell an UP, make sure you’re not selling for the corresponding NIF price.
Q: Where can I find more information about these cards?
R: Here.
Notes
(1) The first image is only an example. It doesn’t mean that these four players will be upgraded.
(2) The automatic upgrade for IF cards has not been officially confirmed on FIFA 15. We’re basing ourselves on the experience we had on FIFA 14, first year in which such thing happened, but it isn’t absolutely guaranteed that it’ll happen again.