Thread by @FootbalIEcon

Tactical Variations in S05 Competitions 🎲

A thread of tips and tricks for each S05 competition, to help you exploit the meta and win cards.

#sorare

AS

As this allows any league, it is financially optimal to use cheaper regions (Asia/America) rather than more expensive European cards.
There is nothing wrong with using EU cards, but this allows you to win the more expensive EU cards while using the cheaper Asia/Am cards.

In Rare, a lot of lineups will be entered for threshold rather than for cards, so don't be intimidated by entries.

The scores in this comp. fluctuate less than regionals, as fixture swings for certain teams are cancelled out by others.

u23

Starters are vital. U23s get more rotation than others, so getting 5 starters is more important. Lots of solid entries will be killed by a bench appearance.
Additionally, u23s get less responsibility, so anyone who takes sets etc will be rare.

Young defenders get more minutes and are less protected than attackers, using 2 defenders is a good strat as they are more reliable, less protected and generally younger defenders are developing as possession-based players, increasing their AA.

ChallengerEU

Due to the number of leagues covered in Chal, and the top-heavy nature of many leagues due to the financial impact of European football at that level, we have quite a lot of top teams in this region.

Because of this, Chal scoring can fluctuate quite heavily and may be a region where you should consider the matchups each week before entering.
For example, Ajax/PSV, Zenit, Fenerbahce/Trabzonspor, USG/ClubBrugge etc. all have strong scoring players across the positions...

..and dominate a lot of games, so if you see they all have easy fixtures you may want to avoid Chal.

This does give the potential for stacking, as the top teams have a lot more 'easy' fixtures than in other regions, so stacks can be rolled out more frequently.

ChampEU

Generally the most competitive division due to the dominance of top teams + the availability of lineup/injury news. As information is much more available, it’s a lot easier to avoid DNPs or rotation.

As these players are the top players itw, the cards are...

..more expensive and so rewards are more expensive. This means that, if you’re buying Champ cards, you generally want to use them in Champ.
This implies that the prices are rational though, there are of course situations where a Champ player may be better valued than...

..other regions, but generally speaking they aren’t.

DNPs are less of a factor here, so the bottom score needed for rewards is high.

Asia

Research is key as it is harder for most people, especially Americans/Europeans, to get accurate info.
Finding injury/covid info and anticipating rotation is huge here, if you can get 5 starters that will already put you ahead of a lot of casual Asia players.

Because of this, there is a good return on TIME investment here. Players are generally cheaper than in EU, giving a good way in if you have the time but not the money.

Playing your Asia cards in AS may sometimes be best, as this gives you a shot at more expensive EU prizes.

America

MLS home advantage is bigger than any other league, also teams are far less dominant, so in this league more than most fixture planning considering H/A can give you a good edge.

Because of the offensive nature of MLS (due to the game rules) defenders and...

..GKs generally don't do as well as Argentina/Brazil or other American leagues.

Similarly, the DP rule means that a team's key players are clear, and will rarely get rotated.
Generally, MLS attackers with South/Central American defenders are optimal.

Also, MLS availability reports give great clarity about player status, so rotation aside you should generally be able to field 5 starters more often than other leagues, as teams publish injury concerns prior to the match.

Underdog

Captain has 1.5x power so picking the right player is vital.

It isn't as restrictive as it used to be now at u50 and without a GK, but it's still difficult to get 4 big scores, so if you have a standout captain pick that is really helpful.

Ideally, your captain is an AA/Dec hybrid player, like an attacking mid.

Again, four u50 players really isn't that restrictive, so in limited and rare especially there isn't that much tactical edge to be had, as there will be lots of good options.

In rare you'll need ~275pts for a card, divided by the 4.5 power is about 61pts, which isn't that unreasonable. At u50 average, picking three attacking players who all get decisives is very possible, so if you have a defender who hits 50+ just from AA scoring, you could do well.

Alternatively, if you have a standout captain, they could compensate for one <45 score if they can hit an 80+.

Also, good tip, DON'T enter u45 Underdog. A very irrational situation is occurring where, counterintuitively, u50 is consistently lower scoring for the same rewards.

Specialist

u40s set you apart, I go for one of two paths:

1. Players with an L15 “artificially” low (meaning they dont actually score this low, but their average is down due to injury, transfer etc.)...

..This will allow you to get 4 strong scoring outfielders, essentially ignoring the u40 requirement.

2. Goalkeeper with a decent fixture - goalkeepers have the lowest scores meaning that using one of your u40 slots on them reduced your upside the least.
Also, a CS is one of...

..the easiest ways to get 60+ from a u40 slot.

If you have two ‘artificially low’ outfielders, I would go with this and a decent GK, or use just one and use a u40 GK. The recent change to GK scoring means that the upside/downside of GK scoring has increased, so using a...

..u40 keeper is less viable now, as the risk of hitting <25pts is a lot higher, and the upside of using a good keeper is greater.

Specialist rare requires around 290pts to get a card. The reward structure is quite different to underdog, as here the top ~10% of prizes are SRs.

290/5.5 is only a 53 average score, however since this team requires a GK and two u40 averages, this average score is perhaps harder than in underdog.

Limited

I don't play limited much, but generally you need to aim for the top.
L's have x10 supply, meaning x10 elite players, but because there is no threshold at limited, the drop in rewards value at tier2/3 is much bigger than in rares.

Because of this, you essentially have x10 elite cards as rare, but LESS than x10 reward value, meaning that more than in other scarcities, you want to focus on ceiling scores.

Rare Pro

There isn’t really a ‘meta’ for using Super Rares in D3, but generally when starting in D3 I would recommend defenders. This is because of a few factors:
1. When you only have a couple SRs, you need them to play regularly.
2. Getting 10-14pts most weeks from your...

..20% bonus is arguably better than having risky attackers who could get anything from 6-18
3. This allows you to use the attacker slots on premiums that you can captain most weeks.
4. Tier1 rares are really good rewards and make up a lot of the prize pool, you don't need to...

..hit the very top places to get a player who can improve your lineups. As I said this isn't necessarily a rule to live by, but when first entering Rare Pro this would be my preference.

Super Rare

Playable with a rare card (particularly at GK where the bonus score will generally be lower).
The rewards are poor right now with lower-end SRs being so hit and miss, (however the pools have just been improved) so I wouldn’t recommend playing at this level currently.

That said, the average player score needed isn't that big, with ~380 getting a card, which with 5 SRs at an average of 25% bonus comes out at around 59pts.

I like Super Rare u23 division, as you can get decent tier3/2 cards here due to the speculative value u23 cards hold.

UPDATE - just before publishing this thread Sorare seem to have improved the prize pools for D2 - the players look similar to the R/L pools, whereas before the player quality was lower - this is good.