Trying to learn H2H and be a viable opponent in games

I normally play CPU only games but I'm trying to get the Nahshon Wright card in the competitive field pass and would like to learn H2H. Here's a few things about the team. 

1. I have 170k coins that I'm hoping to use for the new Smith SS AKA. I'm NMS but I grind solos and sell cards. 

2. I have Reed and Peppers, wondering who is better at FS and who is better at Sub LB

3. I like Mean Joe Green as an end, is there a better choice? I hear the Bruce Smith is nice. 

4. I have Sprinter and Ball Hawk both legendary. 

5. I run a Cowboys TT that's 40/50 currently. I don't need 50/50 because I do like fun players like Quadfather and Truzz. 

I'm wondering what could I add or tweak to the team to make it more competitive in H2H because I'm not very good. Also, which X-Factors and abilities should I run?

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this and extra thanks to everyone who responds. I enjoy this community here and I'd like to learn how to do H2H now.

Sorry, here s my team now. 

https://www.mut.gg/23/lineup-builder/daebd2bc-39b9-4a1a-96da-e2903e313f67/

I like this post, as I am in the same boat. First year doing MUT (prior madden was 2011) and am NMS, so I have 800 cards and no idea what sets to do if any, and what ones to market or burn. I have saved a little more at 800K, and have considered moving in to doing H2H, but I know I cannot keep up with the BIS (best in slot) crew who, I am learning can roll TVP or play the market game. 

My thoughts, grab anything 93 from the campus heros 2 (have seen this suggested a number of times) or cheap and in that range and upgrade anything below that OVR. From that point I think any input I have will be as a rookie, so I will sit back and see what the veteran crew here has to say. 

My setup: (Giants fan )

https://www.mut.gg/23/lineup-builder/ee6e03d5-dbb0-40ba-bab5-f6492271478e/

P.S. Will take any constructive input that isn't go buy the latest 1M coin card to be l33t.. I have no desire to be Henry, I am too old for that been doing game football on and off since the tecmo bowl days and madden 1. Feedback with reason or explanation preferred.

Jaysonguy said:

I normally play CPU only games but I'm trying to get the Nahshon Wright card in the competitive field pass and would like to learn H2H. Here's a few things about the team. 

1. I have 170k coins that I'm hoping to use for the new Smith SS AKA. I'm NMS but I grind solos and sell cards. 

2. I have Reed and Peppers, wondering who is better at FS and who is better at Sub LB

3. I like Mean Joe Green as an end, is there a better choice? I hear the Bruce Smith is nice. 

4. I have Sprinter and Ball Hawk both legendary. 

5. I run a Cowboys TT that's 40/50 currently. I don't need 50/50 because I do like fun players like Quadfather and Truzz. 

I'm wondering what could I add or tweak to the team to make it more competitive in H2H because I'm not very good. Also, which X-Factors and abilities should I run?

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read this and extra thanks to everyone who responds. I enjoy this community here and I'd like to learn how to do H2H now.

Sorry, here s my team now. 

https://www.mut.gg/23/lineup-builder/daebd2bc-39b9-4a1a-96da-e2903e313f67/

A lot of this depends on how you play and what schemes you're trying to pull off, so take it with a grain of salt. If you're just starting out in H2H, you should get matched with players in lower divisions, so you'll have plenty of time to experiment and figure out what works best for you.

I would probably run Peppers at FS and Reed at LB. Peppers speed is a little bit questionable, but his size should somewhat make up for it and getting Deep Out Zone KO for 1 AP is great. It's one of the best safety abilities in the game. Also with your team having multiple good LBs, it could be worth running one of them at FS and the other at SS. Keanu Neal or Kevin Greene should play pretty good in the sub LB role.

Mean Joe Greene should be fine at DE.

In terms of improvements to the team, I think better WRs/CBs could be very helpful. Those are probably some of the most important positions to focus on. He's a tad expensive, but 96 Irvin would be insane with your setup.

Abilities-wise, I'd put Edge Protector on Tyron Smith at LT and I'd consider putting it on your RT too--just to protect against edge threats and help at least a little bit with some of the blitzes you'll see online. For WRs/TEs, Short In and Short Out Elite are very good, especially if you can get them for a discount. For HB, it depends a lot on your scheme. For QB, the best abilities are Set Feet Lead, Fearless, Hot Route Master, and Gunslinger. For X Factors, Double Me for WRs, Freight Train for HBs and Omaha for QBs are my favorites.

On defense, I run a lot of coverage abilities. It depends a lot on if you're running man or zone, but the route knockouts are really good for man and the zone knockouts are really good for zone, especially the Deep Out Zone KO. For X Factors, I usually put three Universal Coverages on Safeties/Corners, unless you have something special i.e. Harrison Smith's Avalanche. I'd prioritize using most of your defensive AP on your secondary. 

Then this probably goes without saying, but always take advantage of players with free abilities. If you can get a free Red Zone Threat on a backup TE or a free goal line back on a FB/backup HB, that can be huge in the right situation. The same goes for like a free Lurker on a LB on defense, etc.

Peppers should be deep, it seems counterintuitive but his height keeps him from getting mossed, I run a 50 Bears TT so I have peppers at FS and Reed at SS, since the highest SS we have rn is 88, and I mostly use real linebackers in the box for 3-4 Odd, switching to 3-3 Cub (3-3-5 Wide) for pass situations.

Do what 90% of the community does......always throw high points, run gun tight and slap ko abilities on defense, run man and let the cpu do everything for you lol ZERO skill and ZERO football IQ gets you pretty far in madden these days

With the cowboys team I’d 100% pick up the 95 Ceedee

Venomize said:

I like this post, as I am in the same boat. First year doing MUT (prior madden was 2011) and am NMS, so I have 800 cards and no idea what sets to do if any, and what ones to market or burn. I have saved a little more at 800K, and have considered moving in to doing H2H, but I know I cannot keep up with the BIS (best in slot) crew who, I am learning can roll TVP or play the market game. 

My thoughts, grab anything 93 from the campus heros 2 (have seen this suggested a number of times) or cheap and in that range and upgrade anything below that OVR. From that point I think any input I have will be as a rookie, so I will sit back and see what the veteran crew here has to say. 

My setup: (Giants fan )

https://www.mut.gg/23/lineup-builder/ee6e03d5-dbb0-40ba-bab5-f6492271478e/

P.S. Will take any constructive input that isn't go buy the latest 1M coin card to be l33t.. I have no desire to be Henry, I am too old for that been doing game football on and off since the tecmo bowl days and madden 1. Feedback with reason or explanation preferred.

Honesty I don’t think you need Bruce smith, Mario Williams is just as good and much cheaper 

Im guessing you like to run with your qb considering that you have RGIII but I’d swap to rodgers he just overall much better

sell faneca and pick up the redux

also add some height you be getting agged with shorter corners 

A new recover would be nice

what playbooks do you run?

I started playing Madden again after ~5 yrs and got the game around Christmas after everyone already had god squads. I'd consider myself okay but not great at the game even now, but I've won super bowls in the highest division of seasons and can at least compete against good players. So here's what I think:

There's times where you'll get dominated (and your opponents will be toxic when they're winning bc all these ppl are insecure and frustrated from others doing the same to them) and it's not because they're a way better player, it's because there's one or two key adjustments that you aren't making. And then once you make that adjustment it turns into a completely different game and they have to adjust -- that's just how it goes. Obviously the adjustments are game dependent but here are what I usually try:

On offense, what are they trying to take away? Against man, use drag or slant or crossing routes (both sides so that they can't user it).  If they're zone blitzing and taking away the middle then look for the rb in the flat. Force them to play hard flats. Next once they play hard flats look for cross or corner routes on the same side as a hard flat bc one of those will be open unless usered. They probably will actually user it so then if the user lb rotates then the middle will be open. After all these adjustments the next thing they'll try will be to bring the safety down to help w the intermediate zones. If this is the case then a streak (often from the slot) will to be open for a one play td.

On defense, play around with shading under or outside. Qb contain if they have bad pocket presence and they run around (backwards usually) when they're under pressure. Stay in zone for the most part and just keep everything in front of you. And change the zones or make minor adjustments so that the same read isn't open every time. Even if they complete 80% of their passes, throw incompletions 10% of the time and throw an int 10% of the time, this means that a drive with 10 passing plays will on average end with an int. And that's a generous completion percentage (but also you do have to make adjustments and force them to make reads). To stop the run, play zone rather than blitz. A blitz basically funnels everyone to the middle and so his blockers will use that open up space to the outside. Don't run commit either unless they're going up the middle and you're confident of that. Most ppl run to the outside which is why the "run defense" that you try to use doesn't work. Something I've realized is that blitzing is more so to pressure a pass than to stop a run. 

Lastly, preserve your sanity. Sometimes you need to be patient and try different things to learn in spite of your opponent's insecurities. The matchmaking does adapt and so don't hesitate to just quit out of toxic games that get to your head and move on to the next one. You're not in the MCS and no one's forcing you to stay in games that aren't fun. In fact the way this game is designed, there's no incentive really to stay in games when you don't want to. You can play infinite number of seasons and there's no reward for MUT Champs (wtf EA) aside from CP.

bbrewer23goblue said:

Do what 90% of the community does......always throw high points, run gun tight and slap ko abilities on defense, run man and let the cpu do everything for you lol ZERO skill and ZERO football IQ gets you pretty far in madden these days

Who hurt you?