In a competitive environment where I will often be at a gross disadvantage due to a combination of aging, lack of experience, lack of financing, and a lack of willingness to lean into AI exploits to win games, I am finding that I am liking the Champs experience more than I originally thought I would. I am at peace with the following realities:
• Some will win because they have better stick skills than I have
• Some will win because they have a vastly superior team
Even so, I do find that I have been able to find an edge in this game: Frustration. I've seen a scant few remarks about bend-don't-break defense, and I am starting to find my footing with pre-snap adjustments in today's MUT 24 defense. My NMS defense plays dumber than the 88 OVR squad it purports to be. Even so, if I can limit big plays long enough, I can identify tendencies that will eventually lead to third- and fourth-down stops, and occasionally interceptions. This, of course, is the football psychology everyone into the game is already aware of.
Imagine my surprise when my Competitive Pass 90 Legends reward yielded Aqib Talib! My limited playtime doesn't yield a lot of time to work the Auction House, so I don't generally get to have nice things. Last season, I immediately flipped my Charles Woodson for over 600k. But Talib came with the Legends X-Factor, so I had to at least try him out. Imagine my surprise when the introductory lineups showed an LTD among my players for the first time since I started playing. And for a moment, I was like, "That's my team!" I've lost games in the meantime, so Talib hasn't been a charm, but his coverage has slowed down the stronger teams I've generally matched up against.
And for the first time today, I forced the sort of early concession I've so many times had to yield myself. I was only up 14-0 after a second quick touchdown, and would have had to kickoff to start the second half. But my opponent had had a rough go already, and I imagine he must have remembered seeing my lineup featuring Unstoppable D.K. Metcalf, Aqib Talib, and Manti Te'o and thought to himself, "Nah, not going to waste another minute against this big-money spender." I feel bad that someone feels badly outmatched, but everyone in this food chain needs to eat. I'm not sure I could eke out 7 Champs wins over one week if I had to play games out. I'm sure my next NPE is lurking right around the corner.
With each hour that passes, the resale value of my Talib drops rapidly. Still, he's contributed to some wins early on. I've been able to keep the losses close, enabling me to play balanced football, and keeping my offense on the field to achieve previously untouchable Competitive Pass objectives. As much as I could use a coin balance north of a mere million, I think not reselling Talib was the right call for my team. And if I can rack up a handful of wins by scaring off would-be opponents as my guys are coming out of the tunnel, my return on not selling Talib will be greater.
Game on!