EA FC 26 Patch 1.2.0 Breakdown | AI Tweaks, Shooting Nerfs, And Market Impact Explained

EA FC 26 TOTY is gradually releasing its player roster, but that's not the focus here. The focus is on evolution. The evolution system is one of the core elements of FUT 26, allowing you to develop your favorite players. Currently, the most anticipated evolution is Build your TOTY HM EVO. However, some misunderstandings and misinformation have arisen. Therefore, let's clarify its core mechanics, selection strategies, and important considerations to help you understand how to avoid wasting this evolution.  Core Mechanics Explained Build your TOTY HM EVO is a series of evolution missions that allow players to enhance specific players. Its core feature is that the evolution path is directly tied to the player's initial position and existing PlayStyle+ skills. The evolution paths are divided into three categories: Central Midfielder (CM), Defensive Midfielder (CDM), and Attacking Midfielder (CAM). Your player can only choose the evolution corresponding to their playable position. For example, a player who can only play Striker cannot directly evolve into a Central Midfielder. The inheritance mechanism for PlayStyle+ is the most misunderstood aspect. If your player already possesses a PlayStyle+ skill before evolving, regardless of the evolution path you choose, they will retain their original PlayStyle+ and will not receive the new PlayStyle+ that path should have provided. For example, Messi in 86 OVR has Tiki Taka+ PlayStyle on his gold card. Let's assume you intend to evolve him. He can play as attacking midfielder, forward, and right winger, so he can choose the attacking midfielder evolution path. After completing TOTY HM CAM Builder, Messi will not receive Finesse Shot+ that path should have provided; instead, he will retain his original Tiki Taka+. After completing the first stage of evolution, in subsequent missions, the system will allow you to choose one of three PlayStyle+ skills: Press Proven+, First Touch+, and Long Ball Pass+. However, you cannot choose Finesse Shot+ or Tiki Taka+. Utilizing Position Change Evolutions Besides Build your TOTY HM EVO, there are several crucial Position Change Evolutions. These evolutions allow players who were previously ineligible to participate to meet the requirements for that evolution: ST to CAM EVO: Forward can become an attacking midfielder. LR/RM to CM EVO: Left/Right Winger can become a central midfielder. CB to CDM EVO: Center Back can become a defensive midfielder. Including Build your TOTY HM EVO, these evolutions are free but time-limited. Core Principles of Player Selection When choosing players to evolve, you need to understand how to select them. From a maximizing perspective, you should choose players who initially have fewer PlayStyle+ attributes and can play multiple related positions. This is because the evolution path, besides providing a primary PlayStyle+, also grants the player multiple regular PlayStyle+ skills. However, a player can only have a maximum of 7 PlayStyles during this evolution. If a player already possesses many styles before evolving, the new styles they can gain from the evolution are very limited, resulting in low cost-effectiveness. A better option is 86 OVR Sandro Tonali, whose initial gold card only has 3 style skills and can play as a central midfielder or defensive midfielder. He can gain significant attribute boosts and multiple PlayStyles, such as Tiki Taka+ or Anticipate+, from any evolution, transforming him completely. 86 OVR Morgan Rogers World Tour is a negative example because his initial card already has First Touch+. If he is evolved into an attacking midfielder or central midfielder, he will not gain Finesse Shot+ or Tiki Taka+, ultimately only being able to choose between Press Proven+ and Long Ball Pass. Another option to avoid is Alberto Moleiro González TOTW, since you already possess the playerstyles provided by this evolution path, adding them to CAM evolution yields minimal benefits, almost exclusively providing attribute improvements. Position-Specific Evolution Analysis TOTY HM CDM Builder Provides PlayStyles: Anticipate+, Intercept, Tiki Taka, Jockey, Bruiser. TOTY HM CDM Builder is perhaps the best of the three evolution paths because you can involve numerous excellent center-backs through “position changes,” creating a well-rounded midfield hub with exceptional defensive capabilities. It's recommended to choose defensive midfielders with fewer initial PlayStyles who can play center-back, such as 85 OVR N'Golo Kanté. TOTY HM CAM Builder Provides PlayStyles: Finesse Shot+, Low Driven Shot, Tiki Taka, Incisive Pass, Technical. This evolution significantly improves the finishing ability of attacking players. It's recommended to choose players who can only play forward but you want to enhance their Finesse Shot+ and passing abilities, such as Šeško and Jonathan David. They cannot directly participate in evolution, but you can change their positions through position evolution. TOTY HM CM Builder Provided PlayStyles include: Tiki Taka+, Incisive Pass, Pinged Pass, Intercept, Technical This evolution direction is not highly recommended. You can choose players with fewer initial PlayStyles who can play as central midfielders or wingers. For example, Tonali and Fabian Ruiz. General Advice Since evolution does not overwrite a player's existing PlayStyle+, be sure to check the player's existing skills before evolving. The fewer styles a player already has, the higher the evolution benefit. Also, don't ignore the position change Evolutions, and it can open up entirely new building ideas. Additionally, it's best to avoid using evolution on players like Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Bellingham. Wait until you already have multiple popular players with strong PlayStyles before considering this evolution. Otherwise, you might just be wasting a valuable evolution opportunity, only gaining limited attribute improvements and unsatisfactory secondary elite styles. The above is a general guide to choosing which evolutions to use. This evolution can bring very powerful improvements, so you should prioritize building meta players rather than choosing players you like but who are very unpopular. Otherwise, you will waste this opportunity.

After a voting period lasting approximately two weeks, the official FC 26 TOTY squads were finally revealed on January 15th! This not only means you can see if the player you voted for made the cut, but it also means you can start collecting a new batch of powerful cards! Notably, this year's Team of the Year includes a new captaincy (one for the men's and one for the women's teams), recognizing players who have demonstrated exceptional popularity and performance over the past year. Below, we'll provide the complete squad list and information on future TOTY events. All FIFA 26 TOTY final squads Aside from awarding one captaincy, FC 26 Team of the Year squads follow the same composition as a regular football team, determining the players selected for each position - this applies to both men's and women's teams. TOTY men's lineup: ST - Kylian Mbappé - Real Madrid - France - 96 OVR (captain) ST - Erling Haaland - Manchester City - Norway - 96 OVR ST - Ousmane Dembélé - Paris Saint-Germain - France - 97 OVR GK - Gianluigi Donnarumma - Manchester City - Italy - 95 OVR LB - Nuno Mendes - Paris Saint-Germain - Portugal - 97 OVR CB - William Saliba - Arsenal - France - 94 OVR CB - Virgil van Dijk - Liverpool - Netherlands - 95 OVR RB - Jules Koundé - Barcelona - France - 94 OVR CM - Pedri - Barcelona - Spain - 95 OVR CM - Declan Rice - Arsenal - England - 94 OVR CM - Vitinha - Paris Saint-Germain - Portugal - 95 OVR TOTY women's lineup: RB - Lucy Bronze - Chelsea - England - 95 OVR (Captain) GK - Christiane Endler - Lyonnes - Chile - 94 OVR LB - Selma Bacha - Lyonnes - France - 94 CB - Millie Bright - Chelsea - England - 94 OVR CB - Leah Williamson - Arsenal - England - 95 OVR CM - Mariona Caldentey - Arsenal - Spain - 96 OVR CM - Aitana Bonmatí - Barcelona - Spain - 97 OVR CM - Alexia Putellas - Barcelona - Spain - 95 OVR ST - Claudia Pina - Barcelona - Spain - 95 OVR ST - Ewa Pajor - Barcelona - Poland - 96 OVR ST - Alessia Russo - Arsenal - England - 97 OVR When can these players be acquired? After the official release of all rosters, FC 26 will not immediately release all TOTY player cards into card packs or the market. Instead, they will be announced in batches according to position, along with Icons Team and special player items. Furthermore, in the final stage of TOTY, honorable mentions and awards will be given to the 12th player who performed exceptionally well but had some bad luck. The following is the expected TOTY schedule: Jan 16-18: TOTY Attackers Jan 16-20: TOTY Icons Team 1 Jan 18-20: TOTY Midfielders Jan 20-22: TOTY Defenders & Goalkeepers Jan 20-23: TOTY Icons Team 2 Jan 22-30: Full Men's & Women's TOTY XI Jan 23-30: TOTY Honourable Mentions & 12th Players If you want to add TOTY players for a specific position to your club, focus on the two-day announcement windows listed above. But if you don't care about position, you can play however you like for the rest of January! How to get FUT 26 TOTY players? From January 13th to 30th, the game will release a new SBC almost every day. Completing these will give you a chance to unlock new card packs as rewards. Additionally, completing daily objectives on time will unlock 10x 84+ Rare Gold Players Packs! While SBC mechanics themselves aren't difficult, completing all the challenges perfectly is quite challenging and might cause you to miss out on some reward card packs, thus preventing you from obtaining your desired TOTY players. If this happens, you can also choose to acquire cards by consuming coins in the market or card packs from the in-game store to avoid missing out on your desired cards. TOTY Honourable Mention Evolution This evolution event will launch on January 16th. It allows you to convert eligible player items into TOTY Honourable Mention cards with an OVR of 89, along with two PlayStyle+ upgrades. The limitations of this evolution are that you can only choose one player, and his/her OVR cannot exceed 86, and her position cannot exceed 4. After completing the first evolution, you can continue to evolve it on January 23rd to obtain a second PlayStyle+ upgrade. Note that the first evolution requires using a specific consumable to change the player's position to a specified option. Consumables can be obtained by entering Ultimate Team during the event. There are three types, with the following effects: Change player position from ST to CAM Change player position from LM/RM to CM Change player position from CB to CDM If you don't use these consumables in time, they will expire, and you'll miss the opportunity to powerfully evolve your regular players! So, be sure to keep an eye on the duration of each TOTY window! What is the significance of holding TOTY? As the biggest annual event for every FC game, Team of the Year itself has special meaning, and for you as a player, it's the best opportunity to obtain new and powerful player cards. In fact, so far, player reviews for FUT 26 haven't been very high. If the game experience can be improved through TOTY and related rewards, it will be beneficial for the development of FC 27. That's all for this introduction. We hope it helps you participate in Team of the Year! Have fun!

Team of The Year officially begins this Friday, January 16th. There will be a large number of high-quality SBCs to consume your Fiddler cards, making the card packs offered by TOTY Warm Up quite important. Before that, there's a TOTY Warm Up event to allow players to accumulate card packs in advance. In addition, FC 26 has also updated with a Warming Up Evolution. Let's take a look at the details. TOTY Warm Up Live Event Although the card packs offered by TOTY Warm Up are free, it doesn't mean you can easily get them. You also need to participate in TOTY Warm Up Live Event to win packs and Evolutions. This event is a no-holds-barred casual tournament, meaning the competition will be very intense. To participate in this event, your squad must contain at least four players with an OVR of 88 or higher, and the highest OVR for the entire squad cannot exceed 86. You need to complete 6 tasks during the event to earn reward packs. Note that you shouldn't open the packs immediately after receiving them, as Team of The Year players haven't been added to the packs yet. You need to accumulate packs before the players are officially released. TOTY players are not released all at once, but in batches by position. A typical release calendar is as follows: Friday: Attacking players (forwards/wingers) Sunday: Midfielders Monday or Tuesday: Defenders and goalkeepers Wednesday or Thursday: Full TOTY squad (Men & Women) Next Friday: Honorable Mentions and Icons Note TOTY Warm Up Live Event Both the rewards and the objective are time-limited, so you'd better complete them before TOTY officially starts. TOTY Warm Up Tasks You have 6 objective tasks to complete, and after completing all of them, you'll receive a grand prize. Play 1 Task: Play one game of TOTY Warm Up Live Event. Reward: x1 5x 81+ Rare Gold Players Pack (Untradeable) Score 1 Task: Score one goal in a TOTY Warm Up Live Event. Reward: x1 Cosmetic Evolution (Untradeable) Play 3 Task: Play 3 games of TOTY Warm Up Live Event. Reward: x1 5x 82+ Rare Gold Players Pack (Untradeable) Score in 6 Task: Score in 6 games of TOTY Warm Up Live Event. Reward: x1 PS/PS+ Evolution (Untradeable) Win 6 Task: Win 6 games of TOTY Warm Up Live Event Mode Reward: x1 2x 84+ Rare Gold Players Pack (Untradeable) Score in 12 Task: Score a goal in 12 matches of TOTY Warm Up Live Event Reward: x1 2x 84+ Rare Gold Players Pack (Untradeable) Grand Prize x1 10x 84+ Rare Gold Players Pack (Untradeable) Warming Up Evolution Warming Up Evolution launches alongside the above mode. It's not a free evolution, and it requires 10,000 FC 26 coins. It upgrades a player card to a maximum rating of 87, offering balanced attribute enhancements. Requirements Overall: Max 86 Not Rarity: World Tour Silver Stars Not Position: GK Total Upgrades Overall: +1 | Max 87 Pace: +2 | Max 87 Shooting: +1 | Max 87 Passing: +2 | Max 87 Dribbling: +2 | Max 87 Defending: +1 | Max 87 Physical: +1 | Max 87 This evolution won't drastically change your players, and it's best suited for players with already well-balanced attributes. Players like Cristiano Ronaldo and Fermín López Marín (Team of the Week) are popular choices. However, since this evolution isn't very powerful, you can ignore it. How to Get More Card Packs? For TOTY, the card packs provided by TOTY Warm Up alone aren't enough. You need to selectively accumulate more card packs and open them at the most opportune times to have a chance to obtain top-tier players. You should ideally complete the daily Bronze, Silver, and Gold Common Player Upgrade SBCs and 80+ Player Pick SBCs. After Team of The Year starts, FUT 26 New league-specific upgrade SBCs will be introduced. These SBCs typically only require submitting 11 Gold Rare players or a certain number of Common + Rare players. You can focus your resources on completing these league-specific SBCs, as they only return players from the corresponding league, making them more targeted and the best way to acquire specific league Team of The Year players. They can reward you with high-rated players and some coins. You should focus on more difficult leagues, such as Portuguese Primeira Liga, and Pro League. For each SBC, you mainly rely on game objectives, card pack rewards, and Player Picks to collect most of them. If you don't have enough, you can trade, but don't exceed 3 players. This method ensures that the rewards you get from completing SBCs outweigh the cost of trading players. You can put players that can't be used in League SBCs into specific Player Selection SBCs. This is an efficient way to obtain 83, 84, and 85+ rated players, which are key materials for completing TOTY-related advanced SBCs (such as SBCs requiring an 84-rated squad). In short, you need to hoard all card packs containing 82+ OVR and players. These packs should be saved until the entire TOTY squad is released before opening them. For all card packs with 81+ and lower ratings, you can open them now to get some fodder cards to support your continued completion of various SBCs. TOTY Warm Up Live Event is just a prelude, and the real fun starts on Friday. Good luck opening packs in Team of The Year!

The most important event of the first half of the year in EA FC 26, Team of the Year (TOTY), is about to have its lineup announced this Friday. Due to the high level of player interest, the lineup leak came exceptionally early. However, with the leak of the relevant content, this list has also caused controversy among players. Many players believe that this may be the most controversial lineup selection in history. Related SBCs have also been leaked, and let's take a look at the details. Team of The Year Lineup Leak The leak first confirmed three players who would not be included in Team of the Year lineup, which is precisely the point of contention. Lamine Yamal, Mohamed Salah, and Victor Osimhen, who ranked second, fourth, and fifth in Ballon d'Or voting, were all excluded. This news left many players incredulous, especially the exclusion of Yamal and Salah. The leaked 11-man lineup is as follows: Forwards: Kylian Mbappé, Ousmane Dembélé, Erling Haaland. Midfielders: Declan Rice, Rodri, Pedri. Defenders: Virgil van Dijk, William Saliba. Wing backs : Alphonso Davies, Jules Koundé. Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Donnarumma. In addition to the exclusion of Lamine Yamal, William Saliba's inclusion surprised many players, as they believe his teammate Gabriel or Manchester City's Rúben Dias performed better. In short, this list has been criticized by many players as the annual lineup that least reflects actual football performance over the past year. Some players who performed well last season but whose form has declined this season, such as Virgil van Dijk and Salah, were included, while some young players who performed consistently and brilliantly throughout the year were excluded. Furthermore, the inclusion of three traditional midfielders is also considered to be the reason why attacking players who should have been included, such as Yamal and Salah, were squeezed out of the list. The nominees for 12th Man of Team of the Year have also been announced, with one of Raphinha, Lamine Yamal, and Harry Kane receiving the official Team of the Year card, and the other two receiving Honourable Mentions cards. For Women's Team of the Year, only some attackers have been confirmed so far: Claudia Pina, Ava Poyé, and Alessia Russo. SBC Leaks Along with the lineup leaks, some new Squad Building Challenges have also been revealed by leakers. Team of the Year Icon SBC The player offered in this SBC is Icon left-back Marcelo. This is expected to be the most important Icon challenge during Team of the Year event, and although his specific stats are not yet known, many players are very much looking forward to it. Flashback SBC Sophia Smith will appear as the reward player for Flashback SBC, bringing her back to her state during last year's TOTY, and is expected to be a powerful card. At the same time, some existing Icon cards in the game have received stat upgrades. However, this upgrade only adds +2 to various attributes and does not add any new Playstyle or Playstyle+, so its impact on the game environment is limited. Market Dynamics Team of the Year leaks have directly affected the game's transfer market. Currently, the value of high-rated player cards are generally falling, for example, cards like Bukayo Saka have seen a significant drop in value in a short period. The most important thing to watch is still fodder cards. Currently, the value of fodder cards like 89 OVR is still high despite some decline. Large SBCs like Marcelo and Sophia Smith may consume a large number of high-rated cards, which could potentially drive up demand. If you want to earn some FC 26 coins, a more stable investment opportunity might be in fodder cards like 84 and 86 OVR, as they are usually consumed the most during TOTY. TOTY Issues The total number of players in EA FC 26 at launch was about one-fifth lower than its predecessor, FC 25, reflecting a loss of players. Although the company is still profitable, they are trying to win back players with more events, and TOTY is undoubtedly the most important event. It remains unknown whether Team of the Year cards will feature three Playstyle+ abilities, but this is crucial to the game's future power curve. Currently, only a handful of players in the game have two Playstyle+ abilities. If TOTY cards jump directly to three, it will significantly impact the subsequent player evolution system and card value system. From the perspective of attracting users, the developers are likely to do this. Additionally, players generally feel that the recent regular SBCs and EVO content have been mediocre. This may be because the player evolution system allows players to customize their own players, thus affecting the revenue the developers earn from selling powerful player cards. Overall, the leak of TOTY cards has received negative feedback in the player community. However, it's undeniable that these cards will still be incredibly powerful in the game. After the official release of TOTY, the game's dynamics will likely be influenced by these cards for at least half a year.