Tag madden 18

Investments – On Madden Number 4

Gutfoxx Leave a comment

I said I wasn’t investing in anything this past Market Monday. I was called foolish to avoid motivators as last year they went up after packs went away. Well as we’ve seen with investing in this and last year’s MUT, if people call something an investment, EA steps in and rectifies it.

Now, an unrelated subject.

Since day one I and many others have said that power ups are a bad idea. This exchange with Cuadz on the MUT sub hits the point:

cuadz.PNG

But people are addicted to the high overalls and red chems that come along with locking in a card to your roster permanently. You lose a tremendous amount of coins and respect from others doing power ups but the draw is still there. Much like smoking.

Back to point, motivator cards were released last Friday.

EA initially announced they’re not going to allow people to do power ups on the motivator cards since the packs won’t be available all year. Aka the packs are “limited” to a short time frame of availability. Seems like EA is trying to save us from ourselves and their misguided sets. Not allowing MUTers the opportunity to waste a million coins plus powering up Von Miller among others was on one hand kind to the community, on the other cruel. People make irrational decisions with their favorite players, emotions get the best of us. So even though I had no dog in the fight, I had no power ups that could have gone higher with motivators, I seized the opening along with many others to criticize EA for creating a reason to exclude motivators from the power up promo. They made a similar and in the end successful attempt to exclude Black Friday cards from power up sets with them being “numbered” and their sets being only available for a limited time.

I fought on behalf of the emotional and irrational. This is a game after all and bad decisions by the community are a part of this game. Not everything has to be min-maxed and their crappy power up promo is a decision tree they need to allow people to continue to climb.

On the other side, more coin oriented people saw “limited” and their eyes lit up with dreams of yesteryear where once the packs disappeared, the motivator cards went up in price, allowing for an easy profit.

So on Wednesday, December 13th in The Year of Our Lord 2017, a post was made by Kraelo on Muthead about a set being added to the game to allow us to get motivator cards outside of packs.

http://www.muthead.com/forums/madden/mut-discussion/1292181-we-heard-you-motivators-will-be-power-up-eligible

This post, telling us that we’ll have another, permanent way of getting motivators relieved the tension around the power up promo and allowed them to now longer be “limited.”

It reminded me of a lesson we learned on Scrubs, good news for one person can mean bad news for another.

The fandom for power ups rejoiced with this new info and investors lost their pants. Darkened by the black on white Helvetica font of Muthead and Kraelo’s commitment to a lasting motivator set. Alas we hear another chapter in the continuing sob story for Vinnie the Mini Venture Capitalist in MUT. The lesson once again becomes don’t buy based on last year and don’t play Three-card Monte with EA. They’ve always got the queen up their sleeve and you’re betting on the wrong card.

Why does everyone hate rewards in MUT 18? On Madden Number 3

Gutfoxx 4 Comments

“…various factors play a part when it comes to reward tiers. This isn’t something people like to hear but rewards are based on level of difficulty, length of solo and solo conditions.”

-Kraelo (https://twitter.com/KRAELO/status/935228798576013312)

EA tells us they factor in a lot of things when they calculate rewards, so why is the community so upset with rewards?

Everyone from solo grinders, to pack pullers, H2H players, Weekend Leaguers, draft champions and squads have issues with their rewards. I heard Salary cap rewards were fine from a couple folks so we’ll leave them alone.

But why is it most all of us don’t think the rewards for our time put in are good enough? Why is it across the spectrum there is so much hate? To say I have an answer would be foolhardy. Because let’s say you bump everyone’s rewards a bit, does this affect the market? So if you give a bunch more coins, it inflates, if you give cards, they go down in price and therefore the rewards level out to their old spot.

But say they want to increase rewards, how would we do it? Give pack rewards for grinding? Those end up disappointing far more than they please. Look at top end finishers in weekend league with their supposed great packs. They end up causing a lot of heartburn and anger at seeing guys who finished behind them pull better cards. This isn’t something that’s going to change. Pack luck is just that, luck. I’ve seen people win raffles with 1 ticket where the guy with dozens of them loses.

Does EA need to figure out a $ per projected number of hours grinding or do they have that already? Should H2H grinders be rewarded the same as the solo grinders on a coins per hour basis? Because one weekend league is around 16 hours of grinding. Grinding team leader solos for OBJ was around 16 hours too. But that’s a tough comparison because team leader OBJ/Mack took coins to complete by buying and selling players on the auction house plus the gold badges and so on.

But let’s skip past that digression and estimate say you get a max of 20k an hour grinding solos. And you can do solos normally just watching netflix or twitch or whatever. Let’s project 16 hours of solo grinding gets you around 320k. 16 hours of weekend league, if you have average skill level, you will win between 11 and 14 games. That gets you to gold 2 for weekly and monthly rewards. So on a weekly basis you’re earning 30,000 coins, 1 80+ overall player, 12 75+ Players and 5 70+ players. The monthly rewards at 5 gold players and 1 85 auctionable/88 NAT player is almost not worth mentioning.

So that’s around 115k if you count the 80+ overall at 10k average, 75 overalls at 5k average and the 70 overalls at 3k average. 16 hours of grinding to average around 7k an hour of returns. Less than half of what you’d get grinding solos.

This gets to the bigger question is if H2H is the reason you grind solos so rewards don’t need to be equal? That’s a whole other blog. Moving on.

Of course if you’re a better player you’ll get better rewards. But the biggest complainers of rewards this year are the guys finishing top 100 so take that for what you will. Again the problem becomes how does EA reward us for our time spent in game with in-game loot? If you buff the loot for all the complaints, it doesn’t solve anything as people still complain their rewards not being good enough because the market changed.

I really don’t know the best way to increase the feeling of reward in game for MUT. Is there a way to reward us through psychological tricks or some feel good longshot story or do we just want cold hard coin?

It feels to me that Madden rewards solo grinders more per hour spent in game than H2H grinders. And maybe that’s me being biased since I grind more H2H than solos. The math above seemed to point that way. But to continue it, one H2H game can take from 30-40 minutes and you get 1,000 coins for winning and the potential to move on to the playoffs if you win 7 games. The big rewards don’t step in until you win the Super Bowl and that’s rare.

Solo grinding has a similar payout structure, first solo, a couple hundred coins then it builds from there. But gauntlets can be done in a couple hours where a season of MUT would take you near 6-8 hours for the 12 games or so to win a super bowl. And that’s only if you can beat equal competition 4 times in a row in the playoffs.

What they could do is determine how many coins they want to reward us per hour and find the average amount of time it takes us to complete the tasks and reward us comparably. I believe right now in H2H they base all reward structures off people winning the Super Bowl every season. They need to understand we’re not all Superman.

So potential solutions, solo grinders need a good journey type solo sequence that takes a bunch of hours to complete and rewards both auctionable packs and coins. So 10 hours for the next solo journey = 200,000 coins.

H2H players should get a pack after every win they have in seasons all-pro 2nd string and higher. There needs to be a John Madden type reward for H2H like Squads has. Some huge end goal for season badges. The 93 overall player isn’t good enough. How about a Vince Lombardi item?

Weekend league players need to have their rewards close to doubled.

Squads I heard still needs to up the tokens but it’s payouts are similar to H2H now so a similar pack reward would be fine.

Draft Champions needs to mirror Salary Cap structure.

The biggest issue, and I’m not doing service to you guys burying it so far in the blog, is that the more rewards they give us to grind the game the less likely in their minds we will spend money on the game. I don’t agree with this thinking but I don’t have the space or time to flesh it out today. Maybe we’ll circle back to this statement in the future.

Talking about what else needs their own blog, pack odds. But for today here’s my quick solution for packs, they need guaranteed value for the silvers and other low cards. We need a trade in set for quicksells or a silver master card. They’ve actually done a decent job with this at times with flashbacks and football outsiders. More of that please.

Unfortunately this blog doesn’t offer a very good solution outside of just “increase the rewards please” or really ties home the grand idea that everyone complains about rewards no matter what you play in this game. I don’t know if there is a final point to be made on it and if there is truly a grand theory here. Someone smarter than me could probably figure it out. So sorry about that, I guess not all blogs will be winners, so no rewards for me today.

Custom Audibles in MUT 18 – On Madden – Weekday Blog #1

Gutfoxx 1 Comment

Today I’m starting the blog back up. It was never consistent but I used to actually write on it. Lately it’s been a repository for Mut Men episodes and the occasional one off script for a video.

But the overall focus of this blog is just daily thoughts on Madden or whatever strikes me as something I want to talk about that day. It’ll only be weekdays and I won’t be editing it much so forgive the grammatical and spelling errors when they arise.

I hope a good name for the blog will come with time. For now we’ll call it On Madden.

Alright, lets talk about the talk of the town, the latest patch and specifically custom audibles. We have players sounding off in both directions with good points on each side. Youtubers generally fall on the side of entertaining gameplay whereas competitive players want gameplay that helps them and their style win. They want a skill gap that separates them from the legion of more casual players.

I myself put out youtube videos so you can imagine where I’m coming from. I think enjoyable gameplay should trump just about every other decision in this game.

As to custom audibles, will they help the spammers of wham, stretch, toss and dive out of singleback deuce close and tight slots? Yes, but it’ll also help the people that pick plays and adjust rationally like real football player to beat coverages. Get it in your head, you’re going to get spammed by those plays mentioned above in addition to Gun Bunch with or without custom audibles. The best competitive Madden players run less than 6 plays on offense and 2 plays on defense 90% of the time.

The spammers are going to spam without regard for audibles, competitive or not.

The main lovers of custom audibles are competitive guys who argue this makes more of a skill gap. I’ve seen this argued over and over, but just because a change in the game makes your game better, it doesn’t mean it makes the game better. There is a knowledge skill gap that you’re forgetting about, knowing what your opponents can audible to when they come out in one formation and switch to another was a skill gap. With custom audibles that part of the game goes away. So let’s not act like this is a holy grail and it’s going to separate the chaff from the wheat more than what we had already.

Custom audible knowledge, much like meta and formation knowledge will be made widely available quickly after the patch and this weekend’s competitive tournament. The spamming will continue with more effectiveness on offense because I don’t believe custom audibles on defense will make that big of a difference. Most completive guys change their defense with adjustments and not audibles. So in the end this is a buff to offense, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing as defense has been the name of the game since the first patch where they up’d zone coverage.

To make a comparable feature on defense you’d need something like “custom adjustments” where you’d be able to input your adjustments pregame and with the tap of a button the game sets it up for you automatically instead of having to repeat the same 10 button presses every play on defense.

So, do I think custom audibles will make the game worse? No, the game is still going to be the same half dozen plays we already see until Rex and company can better balance the game.

And that’s what’s missing from MUT, balance.

Tennessee Titans Offensive eBook

Gutfoxx Leave a comment

Ebook in video Format:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4-lXrzJNBo

Here’s a quick guide to coverages (outside of the 1 play TDs)

Cover 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RpCsN3V8gk

-Down the middle (posts, TE streaks thrown w/ inside lead)

-Sideline WR fades with a TE streak and an out route from middle WR in trips. Or PA sideline fade.

-Deep corners (flood concepts)

Cover 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWLK6DrrLio

-Seam routes (between safety and corner, thrown earlyish)

-Flood concepts (streak, corner, flat on 1 side)

-smart routed outs

-comeback routes

-if it’s pressed, streaks with John Ross

Cover 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Etz0ZwNaZhg

-curl/flat combo

-short patterns and rac it

-flood patterns with a trailing in route to distract user

-if it’s pressed, streaks with John Ross

-slants/flats

-smart routed outs

-stick

-Ohio concepts

-Streak/In route combo (dig)

Man Coverage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCihoVv1c3U

Cover 0 Man w/ cloud flats

-Posts

-slants

-drags

-”chair” routes

-”speed” routes (rounded cuts)

-wheel routes

-In’s and Out’s smart routed to the first down marker on long downs

Cover 0 all out blitz (i.e. mid-blitz)

-slants

-drags

-block everyone and chair route

-block everyone and a post route

-speed routes

-Motion routes (HB swing passes)

Cover 1 Man (watch the deep safety, see if he moves)

-drags

-”chair” routes

-”speed” routes (rounded cuts)

-wheel routes

-In’s and Out’s smart routed to the first down marker on long downs

Cover 2 Man

-Posts

-slants

-drags

-”Speed” routes (rounded cuts)

-In’s and Out’s smart routed to the first down marker on long downs

How to read this breakdown: top to bottom from left to right with vigor. Also, when there is a “-” or a number, that means it’s a second (or more) set up on the same play. The (*/10) is my rating of the formation. If I were you I would learn the higher rated formations first.

Singleback

Wing Tight (4/10)

Runs are below average except the belly weak – It’s a strong one. The other runs will get 2-3 yards mostly b/c it’s 1 on 1 blocking so you need to hope for no blocksheds.

PA Roll Lt – Streak TE on left, drag TE on right. Make user decide between C route and post route. Or go underneath.

-With no blocking HB: Streak both TEs, out route HB.

PA Misdirection –

  1. Streak TE on left, In route far TE. Look deep corner to drag route to trailer
  2. Streak inside TE on right, out route far right TE, in route WR. look crosser to out route

Wing Pair (6/10)

HB Dive is good if you cut it far to the left. Or just find the opening based on the D.

HB inside zone is okay but dive is better

Stretch is not bad at all flipped weak. Strong stretch only if advantage

Power has too many bodies to block strong side. Run weak it’s okay but check bodies.

Counter works well

TE Attack – run it stock. A beautiful 4-verts play. Watch the user and throw away from it.

PA TE Seam – in route far TE, streak WR. Watch crossers and check down if needed

PA Sprint HB Flat – Steak near TE, throw to HB out of backfield

PA X burst Cross – In route curl TE, throw to HB out of backfield

Any pass play – swing HB left, drag TEs for improvised screen

TE Drive – Stock, make your reads, speed route by TE beats man easily. Post route good against cover 2

Singleback Ace U Off (1/10) – nothing we can’t get elsewhere

Singleback Ace Close (1/10) – nothing that’s not better in deuce close

Deuce Close (9/10)

Great formation because it’s balanced so you can flip the play (X+RT) to switch the direction without the opponent noticing you flipped it.

Bench – run it stock or curl HB for quicker middle option. Read TE out to WR corner route to RB. Throw to side away from user.

TE Angle – block RB. Read Streak to corner to drag to trail. Leaving RB on a swing is fine but would rather have blocker. Can motion RB right/left to pick up a blitz but it’s not needed in 18 since RBs are smarter than 17.

PA Misdirection – block RB.

  1. Streak TE near corner, drag other TE
  2. Out route TE near corner
  3. Streak route TE near post, out route TE

PA Stretch shot is okay, others have had more success on it than I. Does okay against 0-man coverage if you block HB. Make sure it’s a guy with good route running.

Good runs in order are HB Wham, HB Stretch, Counter Wk, HB Zone weak. Wham and stretch are great and should be run 80% of the time.

Singleback Wing (5/10)

HB Dive is awesome

26 Duo is okay. HB dive has faster handoff

The counter is okay, pretty bad so far as counters go

Close PA Sail –

  1. Streak WR, Streak inside TE, Slant middle TE, read hi-lo on user
  2. Comeback route to far WR, he’ll be 1 on 1 in a cover 2 or anything not a purple route

PA Misdirection

Stock is fine – read the user but don’t forget the backside Z route, it’s decent. Smart route it.

TE Attack – Drag far right WR for a really good levels concept

Wing slot (7/10)

PA FL Dive – The reason this formation is good. Block HB, In route outside WR. Corner gets open if you let it. Post route is really nice. Throw bench right away if it’s open. Make them respect the short part of the field.

-To Beat cover 4 – streak HB, motion out right. In route far WR. Same reads as above.

U Drive Check – Our back to the left play. Block or swing HB left (for easy few yards) then just read. Drag routes are good unless usered. If usered low, go post high on cover 2.

-Cover 4 – “Smart Route” Post and it’ll be under cover 4 safeties. But drag route should be okay

X-curl – only against cover 4. Stock works

PA Post Shot

-Cover 2 – post route in the middle of it. Drag outside TE for levels

-Cover 3 – 1 play TD, streak slot, roll out right.

-Cover 4 one play TD –  inside post is the winner. Out route TE, roll out right and wait.

-Cover 4 – drag outside TE, drag far WR and pick the level. The post and TE crosser are decent

Slot Post – Streak outside TE, drag outside WR, block HB. The TE on a check and release will take responsibility for blocking then let go of DE a lot so leaving him on that assignment is playing with fire.

PA WR Fork – Can hold right trigger for early get off of play action. Speed out from WR- Can be motioned across with clearout streak from TE to open middle for him. Post against cover 2.

Setup – Streak outside TE, slant inside TE, motion across Slot.

PA Boot Left – Solid play if d is expecting right pass or run. Corner gets deep and opens lane for TE underneath.

Runs – Toss, motion Bryant over, like you’re setting up the PA WR Fork. Otherwise Toss is bad w/o motion. Even then it’s not the greatest. Flipping the run you need to motion over TE or motion inwards the slot WR for crackback block.

Zone weak is only good if your opponent is usering the guy you’re running at. It freezes the other LBs off the LOS. Might be play rec issue? But try and run it so the inside zone isn’t pointing directly at a DT.

Stretch is okay either way. Depends on if the opponent respects the dive

HB misdirection (flipped) is solid. Flipping needs to be done backwards though lol.

Wing stack (5/10)

Titans Spot Stick – Motion inside WR out, streak him. Max protect, drag inside TE. Deep corner.

PA Fork – solid Man beating route, see wing slot for set up.

4 Verts – throw quick to outside WR at snap against cover 3

PA Power O – The power play of this formation. Backside post destroys man and cover 2. Out route TE and look to bench concept that side first. Can motion out the slanting WR for a better levels concept to distract user.

Under – 1. fade outside WR, drag inside TE, block RB. Levels concept. Post route TE is great.

  1. Leave stock.

Runs – HB Belly weak is good

Bunch ace (3/10)

FL Drive – motion bunch WR across, streak. Deep corner or trail routes

PA End Around – Stock

PA Boot Slide – either stock or streak lone WR

4 verts – motion out bunch WR, hit early against 3 or 4 and late against 2.

PA Fork Shot – streak TE, drag backside WR. Pick post or corner depending on user. Otherwise drag is gonna be wide open.

Trips Y Slot (2/10) Only 1 play is great, but it’s really great

PA Slot Cross Shot – Stock works – Get speedy WR on the post route and it beats cover 3 over the top. Also will beat 2 and 4. I dragged WR on far right for my in game adjustment as a check down.

WR Screen, wait a half beat before throwing but nice because no fake handoff.

Slot Wheel – Man beater, speed route from TE

Singleback Doubles

GOAL LINE PLAY

Z Post Y Out – 6 yard line, hot route Right WR, drag slot His post stays along back of end zone

-10 yard line – Far left WR runs to back of End Zone on speed in

PA Zone Shot –

Cover 3- one play TD, comeback route lone WR, streak Slot.

Cover 4 – one play TD, comeback route lone WR, leave other two alone.

PA Y Corner – Cover 0/1 Beater on the chair route. Other side flood concept

I Form

I FORM SLOT (6/10) Best I Form Passes in Book

Toss cannot be flipped, pretty bad.

Y Cop – Streak outside WR, swing/out route HB or FB. Deep corners are amazing right now.

PA Ctr Shot – Slant TE for levels look. Can swing HB for check down

PA Cross F Wheel -Great crossers. Streak TE, out route FB

FB Flare might be okay for beating 2 or 3 in seam. Flood concept on right

Post Wheel Shot – good play for getting under 2/4. Smart route the Z route. Can slant/drag inside WR. Option route HB for check down.

PA Sprint HB Flat – Pass lead down the post route

I Form Tight (3/10 limited use in pass game)

26 Duo is a good run

PA Titans Shot – check the WR route if it beats cover 4

Y-Dig – same question. Also check TE speed route, motion it over?

HB Pass lol

I Form Wing (2/10)

Post Shot – Very similar to the other post shot plays

HB Power G – it’s okay this year. Power-O still better IMO

PA Spot is okay on the goal line, the WR is along the back of the end zone line

Strong/Weak I

Strong Pro (4/10)

26 Duo is a good run.

Counter is solid

DBL Pump n Go’s is for cover 0/1 man coverage and the only reason to be in this formation outside of 26 duo.

FB middle is meh but it’s an angle route and they’re pretty solid this year.

Z close PA sail is okay with the post and sail concept

Z Close F-Flat is good for the TE post

Z close F-Trail is fun

PA Slide and PA Sprint HB pass are okay to throw quick to RB/FB

Strong Wing (?/10) – I need to test these Wing plays more

PA Sprint HB Flat is legit a power play – Streak inside TE and you have PA end around from 15

Post shot to throw a curveball off HB flat. A left play to go against the right side attack of the PA Sprint play.

Power O and Counter weak are solid runs. Their effectiveness will be what makes this playbook work.

Weak Wing (2/10)

Exact same as Strong Wing and Pistol Weak I Wing. Test which runs work the best for you.

Pistol

Pistol Weak I Wing (2/10)

PA Boot Slide – streak TE, Smart route post

Post Shot – Smart route post

HB Power O and Counter Weak are the runs that will make this formation work or not.

But the same plays as Weak Wing and Strong Wing

Pistol Strong Slot Open (0/10)

Shotgun

I don’t talk about runs much in the shotgun formations. Make sure and mix them in though. The inside zones, draws, 0-1’s and others aren’t half bad.

Gun Slot Offset (7/10)

PA HB Swing – Not as good as other motion screens but still solid if your opponent isn’t expecting it with his user. Good play to “throw around” blitzes

Mtn Inside Zone – get the user chasing the swing and inside zone him. Normally pretty solid with a vacated user.

HB Cross Screen – another play set up off the Swing, solid screen if the user chases, dead in the water if they hold theirs

Mtn Y Cross – Another play that sets up off the swing screen, drag the far WR if zone as the In Route at 15 yards sits evenly with hook curls and neither route will be any good if the user holds and another hook curl is near.

Shakes – C routes and HB flat routes, what’s not to like? Well I haven’t had the greatest luck with this play this year. It should work better than it has though. An enigma at the moment.

Gun Wing Slot offset (9/10)

Any play – streak inside TE, Streak HB, flat route outside TE. Hit RB quick for small gain

Inside zone is solid but not the best, motion over TE for better run. Will set up motion with other plays.

Ohio Spacing – only use against cover 4

PA Jailbreak Screen – Not as amazing as other jailbreaks but still okay if the user doesn’t recognize it and is in zone coverage

PA Double Post – Best play in the formation – TE corner and slot post are great.

  1. Out-route inside TE, drag backside WR for checkdowns.
  2. Drag outside TE for levels concept
  3. Motion across TE on the crossing pattern. Will be out pattern now. Good to confuse for inside zone and will get to the flats on a unique route. Great on short side of field. -With TE motion it’s a Cover 2 killer down sidelines with outside WR fade since TE sucks zone down.
  4. Slant inside post, smart route outside post. Quick throw to outside post
  5. Slant outside post, motion in, snap right behind post route, baits user. Can’t be done on short side of field for some reason.

Stick Nod Vertical –

  1. Motion across Slot for the post. Smart route it, streak stick nod TE, slant outside TE, look levels
  2. Smoke screen outside WR and look to corner route, it’s almost unstoppable. Short side of field it’s good. In route outside TE to distract user

Wheel Post Drag –

  1. Best way to run is to in/slant slot, smart route the Z route (if 10 yards and under on down marker) and look for levels concept. Block HB or put on out route.
  2. Motion slot across, wait for it to open up in the middle on wheel
  3. Smart route Z route, slant slot, motion slot across, snap while it’s in motion for delayed slant. watch levels concept

Any play to kill coverages

  1. Streak slot, curl route outside WR, Streak outside TE, block HB and inside TE. Motion WR in a step and hike it. Pass lead outside or inside depending on coverage.

Gun Trips TE Offset (8/10)

DO NOT USE PA BUBBLE or SCAT, route is broken (could be beneficial but it’s unpredictable)

WR screen is okay

Inside zone and 0-1 trap are good runs

Any Play – kills cover 3/4 – Streak inside WR, curl outside WR, slant or drag middle WR. Pass lead WR outside. Extreme Speed needed on inside WR. Worked in online H2H, practice mode a little tougher.

PA Crossers

  1. 1 play TD against cover 3, fast guy at middle WR, streak inside WR, slant route underneath for check down. Wait until the middle WR gets behind the far cornerback.
  2. 1 play against 4 – streak inside WR, slant middle, wait for outside to get over the top. Pass lead right. Wide side of field is easiest but any part works
  3. Drag TE and read crossing routes – middle WR generally good if you throw quick in the seam against 3 or wait until in the middle against 2.

X Under

  1. Drag middle WR, look levels, all routes hit tender area. First look is HB to TE then to post route
  2. Streak inside WR (optional only to distract safety), smoke route outside WR. Look corner to flat on left. Corner is OP right now.

Verticals

  1. Look seam in cover 3 or post, otherwise check down to drag. Optional to slant far WR for other option across middle

Gun doubles HB WK (3/10)

PA Read – leave stock or block HB, read zone coverage and hit open guy. Cover 3 the comeback, cover two the post.

Strike HB seam – C routes and flat routes, what’s not to love

PA Jailbreak screen – the only reason to run this formation as it’s the best Jailbreak in the playbook. Mix in the other plays to keep opponent honest.

Gun Bunch (5/10)

It’s not the greatest bunch in the game. Worse than last year’s Titans Gun Bunch.

Y Curl – Option route HB, sucks down LB, hit WR going in the seam

Verticals – motion outside WR, hit early against cover 3 or 4 and late against cover 2 once he’s over top the zone. Can slant lone WR for other route across middle

Corner strike –

  1. Motion outside WR out and hit early against cover 3. Otherwise check levels on left and right. Quick throw to TE and HB in flat are great to rac catch a few yards.

-corner routes are decent if you can hit the tight window or they are playing underneath coverage.

-on short side of field, RB flat route is nice even against hard flats, can still pick up a couple yards unless manned up.

Bench Pivot is good against cover 3 as the out route gets out there quick. Streak middle WR – can hit him over the top in cover 3 with pass lead outside

Mesh –

  1. Streak Middle WR – Corner route is as close to money as you’ll get. Otherwise check down to TE/drag
  2. Streak Middle WR, Motion outside WR across formation, Slant far left WR, block HB, watch crossing levels as there is a lot of space across the field.

Gun Tight Flex (10/10) Best Formation in the book

Some competitive Madden players only stay in this formation the whole game.

PA Post Shot –

  1. Run it stock or in route the outside right WR for a shorter check down
  2. Drag TE, optional motion right WR out a step for a deeper cross. Streak RB out of backfield for a nice behind coverage throw. Or out route him to hit flats. (I like blocking him most but out route is popular)
  3. Block TE (motion across to stop a blitz) and playmaker crossing route up the field. You don’t even need to block TE to get the playmaker cheese
  4. Motion inner post route across – flat route TE and look to corner. (we have other similar motion below)

Slot curl – Stock, block RB. Can smart route corner to first down marker and In route TE and Smart Route him to first down for a better levels concept.

Double Spot –

  1. Streak WR on HB side, out route WR on other side for bench concept and flood concept on the two sides.
  2. motion left corner across, drag outside right WR, In route left WR, block HB

-user has to choose corner or post

        -look in route first, crossing post 2nd, corner 3rd.

        -Can also streak route HB for dump off

Inside Hi Lo – Good against cover 2, either the post route or the wheel route beats those zones. Quick outside throw to wheel works against cover 3 or 4 if the opponent doesn’t have guy very close.

Bench – solid on its own. Can do a backside in if you want to throw off opponent.

Cross – The Outside WR cross gets to a tender area. Can motion him out if wanted.

-Streak RB for a nice outlet behind crosses

Gun Dbls Y-Flex Offset (6/10 -1 play that’s truly glitchy)

Fork Wheel – this is glitchy – two posts and a deep corner. Love this play. Smart route Z route, block HB, drag slot. Go ahead, make my day.

Corner strike – motion the two WR side C route towards the LOS. Best on short side of field. Streak slot guy, drag other slot, Optional: back side WR to In Route Smart Routed

Y-Shallow Cross – Good for beating 0 Man coverage

Angle Smash – only reason to run it is angle route from HB

Gun Trey Open (4/10 near goal line it’s got good back of end zone pass plays)

Comeback Under – 2 speed routes to beat man coverage – motion middle WR across and you have two good options against man

Read Dig – Speed in route to beat man coverage

Y-corner near the goal line is the money play. Block HB, smart route TE, look for him in the corner. Backside WR on In route is great too. Read him to underneath ins as second reads.

PA Read also has a bunch of end line routes near goal line

Read Dig is good on the goal line – smart route lone WR, block HB

Trail shake is okay. Used to be better in Madden’s past.

Gun Empty Base Flex (2/10)

Y Corner – drag the hitch WR for levels concept

Middle Hi Lo – beats cover 2 but good luck going against cover 2 in 5 wide

WR screen – solid, only reason to run this 5 wide as it’s pretty trash overall

QB draw – another solid play that your opponent might not expect. Make sure and cover the ball though.

Here’s an imgur post for a quick guide of the book: https://imgur.com/a/QXpE4

Shoutout to @TheBabyCreamer on twitter for putting together the quick guide

That’s it. Good luck everyone!

The MUT Men Podcast #62 with EA’s Jake Stein – The Trade Block is back in 18!

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Today TheTexasBoy91 and I sit down to talk with Madden Developer Jake Stein to discuss a wide range of topics.

Timestamps:
1:12 Jake’s background
5:05 EA’s organizational structure and who’s responsible for what
10:35 Why are sets like quicksells such a coin sink?
11:52 Rewards in M18 and where they are at for content right now
17:30 Patches in Madden 18
22:20 Solos in Madden 18
28:40 Randy Moss glitch
32:08 MUT Squads/Team Play
33:06 WR/DB interactions in Team Play (MUT Squads)
35:22 Pre-play Adjustments in Team Play
38:10 Penalty to people who quit on a MUT Squad game?
39:01 Preventing grieving in MUT Squads and 2 v 3 in MUT Squads
43:22 The Trade block in Madden 18
45:40 Factions or guilds in Team Play? Leaderboards or MUT Squads being competitive?j
49:41 M25 Team Play with Regs got old playing with the same 2 teams?
52:05 Rewards in Team Play
53:08 Exclusive content in MUT Squads?
54:48 Are MUT Rewards continuing into 18?
55:34 Potential for weekend leagues in MUT 18? Blitz events evolving?
102:58 Balancing rewards between H2H and Solos per hour put in
108:38 “What if you could choose your reward and didn’t have to deal with sets?”
109:20 Why is FIFA much harsher on coin sellers than the Madden dev team?
1:11:52 What’s been your favorite part of any MUT?
1:14:24 Why doesn’t the overall number on a card match the salary cap number?
1:16:08 +1 Bae is dead
1:17:57 Texas asking for less content…filthy casuals
1:22:52 Are Flashbacks going to actually flashback to a player’s proper ratings of that year?
1:28:16 Why are programs being launched on Thursday now?
1:32:33 Does EA struggle with pleasing people that accomplish content too fast?
1:34:25 Login rewards – Here to stay for 18?
1:39:57 Besides Team Play, what’s the one thing Jake is most excited for in Madden 18?
1:44:13 Biggest Challenge for MUT going forward
1:49:17 Catering to the casual audience
1:53:40 Draft champions being updated more in 18
1:55:24 Madden 18 Story mode incorporated into MUT 18 at all?
1:56:50 Binder limits in Madden 18
1:59:08 The New Player Experience in MUT and online matchmaking
2:06:57 Chemistries in Madden 18 and Milestones
2:09:24 Pack Redemptions in pro packs in Madden 18?
2:09:39 Pro packs and pulling higher overall cards
2:10:07 Will we be able to buy bundles with coins going forward?
2:10:30 Flash sales? Will we see more of them going forward?
2:10:42 VIP Sets like VIP Solos going forward?
2:11:33 MUT Master Tom Brady?

My Opinion on What We’ve Seen So Far From Madden 18

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GOAT edition
-EA has proven themselves over and over again that they will literally do almost anything to suck more money from our pockets. The fact that they will delay the game 3 days for anyone who doesn’t order the version that’s 20 dollars more expensive goes to show that they don’t care about us as people, they see us as a bully sees a small kid with lunch money. I talked about this in my daily login rewards video, they don’t practice responsible development. They aren’t kind to us as consumers of their product. At every opportunity they have, they show us they just want to turn us upside down and shake vigorously.

And when you look at these double release dates and try and justify it, I can’t see it. It’s not like our extra 20 dollars makes them work harder to get the game done 3 days sooner. It’s already out. Games normally release on a Tuesday, you’re saying I pay $60 for this game and I get it on a Friday, 3 days after the ones paying $80? Thanks EA. Cool move bro.

They came out with their quarterly earnings a little while back and said their digital sales are at around an 85% profit margin. They aren’t  going to use our money to hire more developers or make their game better. It’s all about stockholder value to them and not to value to us as consumers. I’ve said this before, the staff on the ground developing these games EA puts out really do care about it. But EA’s upper management team has to be filled from brim to bottom with assholes. They couldn’t care less about us as consumers.

Competitive, Sim and Arcade modes
I am overall a fan of this move. I’ve said in the past how I supported different sliders for the Salary Cap mode.

What I don’t like is that Rex Dickson has said that MUT will be in the competitive settings. I don’t know exactly what those settings are but I will say MUT players are not competitive Madden players. Do not lose sight of that please. It’s caused issues for us this year because they don’t think off the majority of the player base when they make changes. Biggest issue was the removal of the block feature in online play. That’s fine so guys can’t use the block feature to avoid matching in salary cap but it hurt us regular players who don’t want to deal with the guys field goal blocking when it was an issue or the disconnect glitches or the swervers and more.

So the fact that they are lumping MUT H2H settings with salary cap gives me pause, I had hoped they’d be seperated but we’ll see what it is before rushing to judgement there.

My other big worry is that when you aim to please everyone, you end up pleasing no one. Create a great game and don’t worry about pleasing everyone because you won’t.
But the issue here is that we know you have enough trouble patching and balancing your game as is. Why make it three times harder? Slight changes can cause huge balance issues for certain plays or play styles. Since there are 3 settings, if you only hear 1/3 of the players complaining and the rest saying it’s fine, what do you think’s gonna happen? Gameplay balance is something that is incredibly important to the community. We all hate it when a guy spams a play that’s really hard to stop. PLEASE FOCUS ON PLAY BALANCE THIS YEAR.
But back to competitive settings and salary cap, I did a video on the 7 type of Madden players, Spike was only 1 of them. I’ll link it in the description, please watch the video.

Salary cap players are competitive players. These are your spikes. I’m glad they are getting setting for them but again, don’t forget about us regular joes.

Based on 16 and 17, EA seems to think draft champions is for competitive players. But if you’re going to create competitive settings in 18 that reduces randomness, there should not be the added randomness of a draft put into competitive gameplay.

Moving on, I like what you’re doing taking out the swerve in 18 but I felt Madden 17 started with too strong of a focus on the run game.

Please make the fun part of the game the correct strategy to win. Passing and usering on defense is fun in my opinion. The people who run the ball a lot think winning is fun because running the rock is effecitve, and you can’t hate on them for it. Make passing the correct strategy to win. I love what you’re doing making it easier to stop hard to block pressure. Keep that up. In my opinion I love what you’ve done to man coverage. When man coverage is really good, it’s degenerative and leads to a boring game where the only thing that matters is my player rolling an animation better than your player. That is not strategy.

I do think heavy pass defenses need to be punished by a running game. Give -30 blockshed or something to players if they come out in a formation with 6 DBs. I don’t care if it’s obnoxious. Linemen should be rolling over DBs.

I haven’t seen anything related to matchmaking for 18 and that is too bad. You guys fucked up big time in 17 on the new player experience in MUT.

I did a video on this, the new player experience in MUT 17. I don’t know EA’s corporate strategy when it comes to recruiting and retaining players, but I had a 65 overall squad, in my first game I matched against a base elite squad. He wasn’t the greatest player so I assumed that was fine matchmaking if not a little off. But in my second game on a new account, with essentially a starter squad, matched up against a guy with a top 3 of 98 overalls who sent edge pressure at me. This is terrible matchmaking for new players.

I suggest going back to Madden 16’s matchmaking with one change, once a player reaches a level, they can’t demote below it to beat up on easier competition. Now you might say, this will increase the people at all madden 1 st string! I would counter that the way to fix that is to change the amount of levels needed to reach the top of the ladder or increase the requirements to move up to the top and do a seasonal reset like DC and SC.

When you compare my experience starting a new account in 16 to 17, the difference is striking. You had a good thing and you ruined it. Please go back.

Positional advantage
I am mildly excited about this if it’s just your number 1 follows their number 1 around the field. If it’s more than that like Rex is hinting at on twitter, you had my curiosity, but now you have my attention. This is something that was removed from the game in the past. Hopefully this returns along with formation subs from the main menus.

They fixed WRs not looking for the ball. Tip Drill will be nice on them. We’ll see how they do abilities next year because Tip Drill on a WR will be pretty nice. Sorry, UT Watkins creator, you are one year too early on it.

Tom Brady is the cover athlete
I’ve never really cared as long as the disk inside had solid gameplay. Hopefully the disc inside robot Tom Brady doesn’t break this year from the madden curse.

Team play
-If they pull this off well and there aren’t as many problems with it like Madden 25. I.E. randomly disconnecting people then I think it’s gonna be a blast. I don’t know if it’s ready for competitive Madden yet but I do think there is a ton of fun to be had here. It’d be cool if we could use MUT teams for Team Play.

Trailer
-well put together, I did a breakdown of it. I’ll link it in the description.

-Story Mode
I’m not sure I’ll be very big into this but I know a ton of people will be so nice work EA. Hope the story is compelling and you bring tears to the eyes of many.

Pass to a specific spot on the field
This is really neat. I’m a big fan of change. I don’t know how they’re going to work this so I will withhold opinion on it until I use it. I wonder if they’ll be legacy QB controls alongside this or not.

When you try something amazing and it fails, we’ll forgive you. I know a lot of suits and higher ups fear challenging players more than boring them. The safe route doesn’t get anyone fired, until it gets everyone fired. I think we’ll respect the attempt at awesomeness and stick around to see what else you have in store for us. But when you bore us, we’ll hate you and stop playing. MUT 17 is the epitome of boring with the lack of fresh content. So the fact that they are changing up gameplay a bit with this and hopefully bringing some new stuff into MUT means they are trying to change and challenge us and therefore excite us.

Unfortunately nothing MUT related has been released yet except a blurb about it being really neat or something. Usually not until July or August do we hear much.

Look to EA play June 10th-12th for more details