Do you need Pick Artist if you are running acrobat?

What are the best abilities for my defensive scheme, I usually mix it up but for the most part I run cover 2 man out of dollar? I run deep out KO's on my safeties but other than that what would you guys suggest for my corners? I have experimented with different man KO's but I feel like they just dont animate for me ever, as of rn I have like half KO's and half pick artists

At this point, there's a TON of DBs with 0 AP Pick Artist, which is a must-have, IMO.  I'm basically running the same scenario that you are, 3-2 Dollar Man to Man Press defense, however i would consider adjusting your Safeties to run Deep Out (or in) Zone KO, instead of the man abilities, unless you're all out blitzing and putting Safeties into 1 on 1 coverage, which i very often do out of this formation.  Typically they are covering over the top as shown here, which I understand to be a Zone formation.

I was finally able to unlock the free Competitive Pass Corner, who gets 1 AP Acrobat, last night was my first full evening of testing him out.  More tips and pass-breakups than actual picks with the ability, but it appears to trigger fairly often and he's 6'4" which makes him a premium player at the position, IMO, for free.  I believe that's the ability I'm running on him, in place of the 0 AP Pick Artist option.  I may change down the road, but for now, this is the first time I've had a chance to try out discounted Acrobat and i keep hearing folks discuss it -- never seemed worth 5 AP anywhere else.  Hope that helps, good luck!  Keep us posted on your progress.

peatrick said:

At this point, there's a TON of DBs with 0 AP Pick Artist, which is a must-have, IMO.  I'm basically running the same scenario that you are, 3-2 Dollar Man to Man Press defense, however i would consider adjusting your Safeties to run Deep Out (or in) Zone KO, instead of the man abilities, unless you're all out blitzing and putting Safeties into 1 on 1 coverage, which i very often do out of this formation.  Typically they are covering over the top as shown here, which I understand to be a Zone formation.

I was finally able to unlock the free Competitive Pass Corner, who gets 1 AP Acrobat, last night was my first full evening of testing him out.  More tips and pass-breakups than actual picks with the ability, but it appears to trigger fairly often and he's 6'4" which makes him a premium player at the position, IMO, for free.  I believe that's the ability I'm running on him, in place of the 0 AP Pick Artist option.  I may change down the road, but for now, this is the first time I've had a chance to try out discounted Acrobat and i keep hearing folks discuss it -- never seemed worth 5 AP anywhere else.  Hope that helps, good luck!  Keep us posted on your progress.

Wow! Super helpful and in depth, sorry just seeing this now. I also am using Wright with acrobat, I have a bears theme team and would love to run deep out on both safeties but at the same time I do usually switch up my defense to reflect and react to however my opponent is reacting. Also bojack sadly does not get many good coverage abilities discounted so I have not found the AP to spend on him. Here is what I usually run, let me know your thoughts: 

Charles Tillman - pick artist, crusher (experimented with Deep route KO, but the way my defense is set up he never uses it to justify the AP, if he had mid route it would be a lot better) 

Tracy Porter - pick artist, mid route KO (great in the slot bc causes occasional knockouts on corner routes)

Nashon Wright - acrobat (has not given me problems)

Isiah Rodgers - pick artist (other slot, very much need to upgrade here but the boosts he offers to the rest of my team is very helpful and I do not have the space to replace him with my 50/50 theme team)

overall, I love running more blanket type defenses like cover 2 man or cover 4 but I just get zero pass rush on them which has been so frustrating, watching people sit in the pocket while my D lineman (free BHS ghoulston and jordan) are drained of their stamina and my corners sit in zones with nobody near them (even in match), or in man them not being able to keep up once the receivers start coming back to the ball. Overall, I do not want to be a blitz cheezer like everyone else but its been really frustrating and I do not know what to do about it

i LOVE that yer running DA BEARS theme team, bravo -- i'm still reviewing what you've said and trying to get you a proper response, but if you are somewhat interested in my personal journey or recent adjustments to my 49ers theme team (including an attempt with Mel Blount as CB1), please see full details here: https://www.mut.gg/forums/post-redirect/134466/

I feel your pain with the lack of pressure from the D-line, it's been basically feast or famine for me -- i'll find a bunch of online H2H players who still don't seem to run Edge Protector or Secure Protector on their tackles, at which point Bosa & Charles Haley are just decimating the opposing QB, it becomes basically a foot race for which gets home for the sack sooner.  At the opposite end of the spectrum is when i'm not able to get ANY pressure, no matter if i'm running 3 or 4 down-linemen, which feels ridiculous for how high end my defensive line seems, or at least feels to me -- especially with the team chems.  I've got Bosa (RE), Haloti Ngata (DT) and Chuck Haley (LE) and it's often not until i revert to a more "standard" Nickel package with four D-line, where i finally get Deforest Buckner (easily the "worst" card of the bunch) who seems to find a way to get pressure on the QB, which doesn't make sense, as he's primarily a run stopper.  I'm considering swapping out DeFo for the Milkman AKA card to see if i can take advantage of the boost he offers to the rest of the D-line through his abilities.  Maybe.  I'm not sure the solution here...

Ultimately, when all else fails and i'm frustrated or unsure what to do, i become a degen blitz cheeser as you so appropriately stated it, via the all-out 3-2 Dollar Spinner blitz package, i've got 98 speed corner coming off the edge, who more often than not can get home or at least make things interesting.  Perhaps i'm just terrible at the game.

How's Charles Tillman been for you?  I thought Mel Blount was going to be this absolute monster and completely shut down opponents, but he still manages to get burned over the top, was NOT a ~900k upgrade from Nahshon Wright.  I'm back to using; Charvarius Ward, Jason Verrett & Richard Sherman (all with 50/50 49ers team chems), as well as a Man to Man defense strategy item.  And Isiah Rodgers was the very first Motivator card i picked up, all these various bonuses start to stack up and IMO it's worth donating a "cheat" card slot for that very purpose.  Same with my D-line, i've got Kenny Clark as DT3 for the additional Motivator bonuses, and Dak Prescott as QB2 to give bonuses to my route running.

All my opponents manage to get these incredible user picks over the middle, their card just needs to be in the general area and i'm seeing TONS of folks snatch passes out of the air.  While i'm usering Ronnie Lott, even with the 1AP Pick Artist, the ball will hit him in the helmet and fall to the ground.  I don't know what the hell i could be doing any better or different, if the Mel Blount card didn't help improve my gameplay, i don't know what can help me at this point, heh.  I even tried to spend a TON of AP running Inside Shade ability, along with 0AP Pick Artist on basically all of my DBs, lastly i've used the 1AP Deep Route KO on my outside corners, whenever feasible.

Because i've been getting run over so much with Quadfather and/or King Henry, i'm often having to run four D-linemen to try and slow that down, but it's way better and somehow less frustrating to get Quadfather cheesed than it is to see Carmichael or whatever WR make diving over the top catches for 1-play TDs into double or triple coverage.  Few things in Madden are worse than that experience, IMO.  My team is starting to feel somewhat competitive, but i've got a long way to go here.  Thanks for the reply, good luck with Da Bears!~

peatrick said:

i LOVE that yer running DA BEARS theme team, bravo -- i'm still reviewing what you've said and trying to get you a proper response, but if you are somewhat interested in my personal journey or recent adjustments to my 49ers theme team (including an attempt with Mel Blount as CB1), please see full details here: https://www.mut.gg/forums/post-redirect/134466/

I feel your pain with the lack of pressure from the D-line, it's been basically feast or famine for me -- i'll find a bunch of online H2H players who still don't seem to run Edge Protector or Secure Protector on their tackles, at which point Bosa & Charles Haley are just decimating the opposing QB, it becomes basically a foot race for which gets home for the sack sooner.  At the opposite end of the spectrum is when i'm not able to get ANY pressure, no matter if i'm running 3 or 4 down-linemen, which feels ridiculous for how high end my defensive line seems, or at least feels to me -- especially with the team chems.  I've got Bosa (RE), Haloti Ngata (DT) and Chuck Haley (LE) and it's often not until i revert to a more "standard" Nickel package with four D-line, where i finally get Deforest Buckner (easily the "worst" card of the bunch) who seems to find a way to get pressure on the QB, which doesn't make sense, as he's primarily a run stopper.  I'm considering swapping out DeFo for the Milkman AKA card to see if i can take advantage of the boost he offers to the rest of the D-line through his abilities.  Maybe.  I'm not sure the solution here...

Ultimately, when all else fails and i'm frustrated or unsure what to do, i become a degen blitz cheeser as you so appropriately stated it, via the all-out 3-2 Dollar Spinner blitz package, i've got 98 speed corner coming off the edge, who more often than not can get home or at least make things interesting.  Perhaps i'm just terrible at the game.

How's Charles Tillman been for you?  I thought Mel Blount was going to be this absolute monster and completely shut down opponents, but he still manages to get burned over the top, was NOT a ~900k upgrade from Nahshon Wright.  I'm back to using; Charvarius Ward, Jason Verrett & Richard Sherman (all with 50/50 49ers team chems), as well as a Man to Man defense strategy item.  And Isiah Rodgers was the very first Motivator card i picked up, all these various bonuses start to stack up and IMO it's worth donating a "cheat" card slot for that very purpose.  Same with my D-line, i've got Kenny Clark as DT3 for the additional Motivator bonuses, and Dak Prescott as QB2 to give bonuses to my route running.

All my opponents manage to get these incredible user picks over the middle, their card just needs to be in the general area and i'm seeing TONS of folks snatch passes out of the air.  While i'm usering Ronnie Lott, even with the 1AP Pick Artist, the ball will hit him in the helmet and fall to the ground.  I don't know what the hell i could be doing any better or different, if the Mel Blount card didn't help improve my gameplay, i don't know what can help me at this point, heh.  I even tried to spend a TON of AP running Inside Shade ability, along with 0AP Pick Artist on basically all of my DBs, lastly i've used the 1AP Deep Route KO on my outside corners, whenever feasible.

Because i've been getting run over so much with Quadfather and/or King Henry, i'm often having to run four D-linemen to try and slow that down, but it's way better and somehow less frustrating to get Quadfather cheesed than it is to see Carmichael or whatever WR make diving over the top catches for 1-play TDs into double or triple coverage.  Few things in Madden are worse than that experience, IMO.  My team is starting to feel somewhat competitive, but i've got a long way to go here.  Thanks for the reply, good luck with Da Bears!~

I feel you with the user picks over the middle, there is sometimes where my DB will jump ten feet in the air to pick the ball but then other where I am holding Y (or triangle) and the guy (usually ed reed with acrobat) does not even react to the ball at all. Charles Tillman has been awful for me which is ridiculous since he is by far my best corner (maybe because he is on their best wr? not sure). Still been trying to run mostly 3 and 4 man rush, also run 3-3 cub every now and then especially against the run which has been really rough lately against it which is ridiculous since I have 5 down lineman. For me though I have a puller elite, post up and nasty streak on my LG, C, RG but cover 4 out of 3-2 dollar still kills me with the inside stuffs and all that, its ridiculous.

It finally happened!  Dre Greenlaw got a diving pick over the middle in the 4th quarter when my opponent was down 14-7 and driving, inside the red zone.  It's been a WEEK+ and i've not seen that 0 AP Pick Artist animate even a single time, nor when i tried with Acrobat (for 2 AP).  What a relief.  He's still so fast, i cannot give up on him, but i continue to fiddle with things in the middle.

I reached the same conclusion with Mel Blount, trying to sell his card today, especially now with Team Captain upgrade options available, erases the need for a pricey corner of questionable value.