99 OVR 49ers theme team "cheats" -- where to improve?

Fairly new MUT player, picked up the game on sale around Thanksgiving.  Haven't played much Madden in decades.  Despite the embarrassing NFC championship game, i'm sticking with my boyz as a lifelong Niner fanatic.  Where can i begin substituting "cheat" cards that are potentially non-49ers chemistry?  Currently at 52/50 now that i've unlocked max Gronk.  Mostly NMS/F2P, but finally plunked down 2800 Madden bucks to build out my squad from the new theme team pack drops, money well spent in my mind.  I'd spent months grinding and was nowhere close to fielding a competitive Niners squad.  I'm still terrible at the game, but i'm having a blast, so it's all good.
https://www.mut.gg/23/lineup-builder/51b80a97-be9f-4ea0-b942-b1f27de7928e/

Primarily running Dollar defense with Kevin Green and Ronnie Lott holding down the middle of the field.  Personal highlights include:

• 99 Speed Warrick Dunn
• 98 Speed Anquan Boldin who rarely drops a short pass over the middle
• 97 Speed Ronnie Lott as my user, while Kevin Greene blitzes

Don't sleep on that BHM pack, absolutely worth the grind, they're extremely good for us no-money spent folks.  Not sure the 96 OVR Kwon Alexander is worth the investment, as i'm running 3-2 Dollar defense, primarily man to man press style, so linebackers are kinda meh for me, personally.  How should i be structuring my DBs with the available options, or what defense do YOU prefer with this type of squad?

Cornerbacks / Defensive Backs (with included team bonuses & Legendary 49ers strategy item) -- hopefully i haven't misquoted any stats, doing it from memory:

1. Jason Verrett - 99 OVR 
2. Charvarius Ward - 98 OVR 
3. Richard Sherman - 97 OVR
4. Ronnie Lott - 99 OVR  (could get ability to play CB or SS/FS with team chemistry)
5. Antonio Cromartie - 95 OVR
6. Denzel Ward - 95 OVR
7. Eric Allen - 95 OVR
8. feel liek i'm missing someone here... will come back and add/edit later.
9. Nahshon Wright - 96 OVR, but 6'4" on the outside is beast-mode, dropped 1AP Acrobat for 0AP Pick Artist
10. Gronk -- 99 OVR, is no joke either, but most everyone should have him soon.
11. Nick Bosa - 99 OVR (recent addition -- overpaid a bit in my excitement)
12. Charles Haley & Dre Greenlaw, WOW.  Just wowowowowowowwow.

Someday i'll try to afford the 96 OVR Fred Warner (Playoffs) MLB, as well as Kwon, but linebackers haven't been nearly as important as DBs, unless i'm missing something here.  Cannot wait for a Nick Bosa DPY upgrade, that should be coming, correct?  Doubt i can afford it, but will start saving coins.

Thanks in advance for any comments & criticism... constructive, or otherwise.  Have a lot to learn.  What would YOU change or do to improve this squad, or which cards would you swap out?  Primarily asking about the defensive backs layout / structure or potential upgrades and best (hopefully discounted) abilities.  Be safe, be nice, be fun!

EDIT: FYI, for whatever it's worth, i've thus far spent a grand total of $24.29 (after the EA Play discount) on a single, 49ers Theme Team pack of MUT cards.  Otherwise entirely NMS/F2P leading up to this.

Let's hang out!  Friend me, Playstation Network OnlineID = `patpeatrick`

peatrick said:

Fairly new MUT player, picked up the game on sale around Thanksgiving.  Haven't played much Madden in decades.  Despite the embarrassing NFC championship game, i'm sticking with my boyz as a lifelong Niner fanatic.  Where can i begin substituting "cheat" cards that are potentially non-49ers chemistry?  Currently at 52/50 now that i've unlocked max Gronk.  Mostly NMS/F2P, but finally plunked down 2800 Madden bucks to build out my squad from the new theme team pack drops, money well spent in my mind.  I'd spent months grinding and was nowhere close to fielding a competitive Niners squad.  I'm still terrible at the game, but i'm having a blast, so it's all good.
https://www.mut.gg/23/lineup-builder/51b80a97-be9f-4ea0-b942-b1f27de7928e/

Primarily running Dollar defense with Kevin Green and Ronnie Lott holding down the middle of the field.  Personal highlights include:

• 99 Speed Warrick Dunn
• 98 Speed Anquan Boldin who rarely drops a short pass over the middle
• 97 Speed Ronnie Lott as my user, while Kevin Greene blitzes

Don't sleep on that BHM pack, absolutely worth the grind, they're extremely good for us no-money spent folks.  Not sure the 96 OVR Kwon Alexander is worth the investment, as i'm running 3-2 Dollar defense, primarily man to man press style, so linebackers are kinda meh for me, personally.  How should i be structuring my DBs with the available options, or what defense do YOU prefer with this type of squad?

Cornerbacks / Defensive Backs (with included team bonuses & Legendary 49ers strategy item) -- hopefully i haven't misquoted any stats, doing it from memory:

1. Jason Verrett - 99 OVR 
2. Charvarius Ward - 98 OVR 
3. Richard Sherman - 97 OVR
4. Ronnie Lott - 99 OVR  (could get ability to play CB or SS/FS with team chemistry)
5. Antonio Cromartie - 95 OVR
6. Denzel Ward - 95 OVR
7. Eric Allen - 95 OVR
8. feel liek i'm missing someone here... will come back and add/edit later.
9. Nahshon Wright - 96 OVR, but 6'4" on the outside is beast-mode, dropped 1AP Acrobat for 0AP Pick Artist
10. Gronk -- 99 OVR, is no joke either, but most everyone should have him soon.
11. Nick Bosa - 99 OVR (recent addition -- overpaid a bit in my excitement)
12. Charles Haley & Dre Greenlaw, WOW.  Just wowowowowowowwow.

Someday i'll try to afford the 96 OVR Fred Warner (Playoffs) MLB, as well as Kwon, but linebackers haven't been nearly as important as DBs, unless i'm missing something here.  Cannot wait for a Nick Bosa DPY upgrade, that should be coming, correct?  Doubt i can afford it, but will start saving coins.

Thanks in advance for any comments & criticism... constructive, or otherwise.  Have a lot to learn.  What would YOU change or do to improve this squad, or which cards would you swap out?  Primarily asking about the defensive backs layout / structure or potential upgrades and best (hopefully discounted) abilities.  Be safe, be nice, be fun!

EDIT: FYI, for whatever it's worth, i've thus far spent a grand total of $24.29 (after the EA Play discount) on a single, 49ers Theme Team pack of MUT cards.  Otherwise entirely NMS/F2P leading up to this.

Let's hang out!  Friend me, Playstation Network OnlineID = `patpeatrick`

Impressive write-up here! Going to try to answer your question about DB's in Dollar below. 

Just going to link my lineup so it's easier to explain - https://www.mut.gg/23/lineup-builder/1f77a695-0364-4580-91e4-c5c9692d8066/ - 

Using Deep Out Zone KO combined with a Man KO ability on all of my CB's as I run a hybrid man/zone blitz scheme. For my safeties, I have Deep Out Zone KO with Deep Route KO on Rodney and the same for Woolen (at SUB LB) and I user Peppers. Then the rest of my defensive AP is spent on my D Line.

Not really sure what your budget is, but the Rodney Harrison is a great card with a very solid ability stack (Deep Out Zone, Deep Route KO, and Pick Artist all for 2 AP). 

I'm not a huge fan of LB's these past couple of years as there really isn’t a penalty to having a Safety at LB and they are usually way better.

If you have any additional questions feel free to reach out.

Hope you enjoy the Super Bowl!

Thanks for the reply, @hurc -- i was a little concerned about being too long-winded, didn't figure many folks would sit through or tolerate a mini novel, but some background information about how i ended up here felt relevant.  Thanks for your specific suggestions, looking forward to spending a little bit of time reviewing your lineup and seeing what i can apply in my own squad.

Upon further review (and after you confirmed my suspicions, about LBs being less relevant), i'm extremely glad that I held off on adding Fred Warner to the roster.  Will continue using the Thanksgiving, for the time being.  I may consider moving Kevin Greene to D-Line and adding a second DB (also as per your suggestion) to help hold down the middle in my Dollar 3-2 scheme.

My budget is fairly limited, depending if any of my auctions hit overnight, i might be working with ~500k coins at the moment, but trying to liquidate a few more things.  Doubt i'll be able to afford a million+ for the Bosa, doubt that will come cheap.  Glad he was released.  After using the full 50/50 49ers theme team and noticing how much +2 Speed, plus all the other stat bonuses have improved my gameplay, i doubt i'll ever go back to having a mish-mash of players, but that's almost as much based on pure fun factor, as i prefer running full 49ers squad, even if it gimps me in other areas.  I don't really have the budget, nor desire to constantly chase the meta.  I'm confident enough about my own abilities (or lack thereof) to grasp that i'm not going to be a professional MUT player anytime soon.  =)

Thanks for the reply, sir!  You are most kind.  Happy to have found my way here, the learning opportunities are immense.

What dumb luck, my budget increased dramatically last evening, managed to pull two (2) Justin Jefferson LTDs from TVPs, so i punted em both for ~945k and 1m coins, added Bosa & Quadfather and now i'm tinkering with other changes.  Will be looking forward to the Deion Sanders upgrade CB, that'll be pretty sweet.

Also, i've shuffled my D-line around, so it's become: Bosa (RE), Deforest Bucker (DT) and Kevin Greene (LE) with 97 speed Ronnie Lott and 95 speed Talanoa Hufanga holding down the middle, with Ronnie as my user.

I’ve been considering a Niners TT myself, but may do it next year from scratch.

Im 40/40 Legends, but that’s a recent build. I started the year all-BND up until Harvest. Stacking coins the whole way. If a new card came my way, I sold it. Around Harvest I fired up the Chargers TT. (Been a fan since ‘94) Built that up to a 96 overall and then, got bored. Had just shy of 8 million coins. (I’m NMS except like $40 to start the year)

I figured the switch to Legends would let me beef up areas of my team that the LAC team lacked: O-line, D-Tackles, QB (before Geno upgrade).

All in all I’m glad I do a switch up every so many months. Helps keep the game fresh and enjoyable longer. We do have to admit though, team building is more fun than actually playing. 😏

RE: All in all I’m glad I do a switch up every so many months. Helps keep the game fresh and enjoyable longer. We do have to admit though, team building is more fun than actually playing. 😏

Thanks for the reply, @Busta!  And HOLY, you can certainly say that again -- i'm just now discovering how truly amazing the team building experience is within MUT.  I didn't really have any options before as a NMS player, it was just whatever I could unlock / earn / collect, wasn't really trying to get an economics degree buying and selling cards for profit, but i can see there's a TON of different aspects of the game for folks to latch onto.  It pained me to dump cash into a pack, but having a full squad of my Niners to tinker with (and to unlock those sweet, sweet 50/50 team chems) has completely changed the overall game experience for me.  Elden Ring was the last time i had this much fun in a video game, liek a ~year ago.

As i continue to get down the basics of gameplay, i think my enjoyment will continue to grow.  For the first time in my MUT career, i was finally able to earn enough points to unlock the free Competitive Pass card, which was quite good, IMO.  I tried so hard with the prior, missed Travis Etienne by a bit, didn't come anywhere close with the D-lineman last round, so this was exciting.  This 95 OVR 49ers theme team is the best i've had by a mile.  I'm not technically NMS anymore, as i did invest 2800 Madden bucks (points? / $24.29), but money well spent, IMO.

Thanks for sharing your experiences!  I'm still a little distraught that the Niners moved to Santa Clara from Candlestick, gotta be interesting when yer team changes actual cities.  I lived in LA for a handful of years, always seemed liek there were more college fans than NFL.  That city is so weird, people care more about being seen at the game than actually going to watch football.  Stark contrast from growing up in Bills Mafia territory.

A few minor lineup adjustments:

1. Added new LT, to replace Trent Williams, as much as it pained me to do so.
2. Find myself running Warrick Dunn with his 99 Speed, instead of spending the 2 AP for Quadfather, because let's be honest, it's a passing league.
3. Benched Cromartie in favor of the free Competitive Pass DB which is surprisingly good, if not borderline great.  Hope that was the correct move, but i'm curious to see how 1 AP Acrobat works out, first time using the ability, it always seemed liek ~5 AP was a lot to dedicate to a single player.
4. Reverted my Blitz package D-Line, so rushers are back to; Bosa (RE), Buckner (DT) and Cam Jordan (LE) with Kevin Greene moving back to SUBLB2 (complete with 0 AP Lurker ability) and, as always, i'm usering Ronnie Lott at SUBLB1.

My corners are getting beat over the top playing so much Press Man to Man, but i've managed to get each and every one boosted to 99 Man, but unsure which other stats i should prioritize.  Lots to learn, lots to learn.  Game is feeling more competitive than ever, still having an absolute blast.

peatrick said:

Thanks for the reply, @hurc -- i was a little concerned about being too long-winded, didn't figure many folks would sit through or tolerate a mini novel, but some background information about how i ended up here felt relevant.  Thanks for your specific suggestions, looking forward to spending a little bit of time reviewing your lineup and seeing what i can apply in my own squad.

Upon further review (and after you confirmed my suspicions, about LBs being less relevant), i'm extremely glad that I held off on adding Fred Warner to the roster.  Will continue using the Thanksgiving, for the time being.  I may consider moving Kevin Greene to D-Line and adding a second DB (also as per your suggestion) to help hold down the middle in my Dollar 3-2 scheme.

My budget is fairly limited, depending if any of my auctions hit overnight, i might be working with ~500k coins at the moment, but trying to liquidate a few more things.  Doubt i'll be able to afford a million+ for the Bosa, doubt that will come cheap.  Glad he was released.  After using the full 50/50 49ers theme team and noticing how much +2 Speed, plus all the other stat bonuses have improved my gameplay, i doubt i'll ever go back to having a mish-mash of players, but that's almost as much based on pure fun factor, as i prefer running full 49ers squad, even if it gimps me in other areas.  I don't really have the budget, nor desire to constantly chase the meta.  I'm confident enough about my own abilities (or lack thereof) to grasp that i'm not going to be a professional MUT player anytime soon.  =)

Thanks for the reply, sir!  You are most kind.  Happy to have found my way here, the learning opportunities are immense.

Happy to help and happy you're here!

Well, if you can't beat em, join em -- or so they say.  Apparently i'm turning this thread into a bit of a MUT blog style post, with running updates / changes on my squad for anyone else who might care to follow along at home.

Ultimate Legends finally gave us an opportunity to further improve both O & D-lines, but let's start with the reason for the initial tag line. . . added MVS at WR1 (for a mere 850k coins, oof), benched D.K. Metcalf.  Ultimately, I chose MVS based on the fact that he gets Superbowl chems, so even outside my team chemistry, I'm able to get him boosted to 98 Speed, 98 Acceleration, along with 99 Catching, 99 Deep Route Running.  Feels liek a much needed, true number 1. . . for now.

Charles Haley and his OOP card now help to hold down the left guard position, also nabbed a new center, since I'm already forced to devote a slot to non-49ers as we simply lack two 49ers with natural position & team chemistry.  Ended up removing the upgrades and putting Quadfather on auction house, will probably set my sights on Bo Jackson at some point in the future.

Defense saw the more massive overhauls, at least from a gameplay and team performance perspective.  That Charles Haley LOLB Ultimate Legends card EEATS, especially when he's book-ended with Bosa on the right side out of my 3-2 Dollar Man Press scheme. Both players/cards get reduced cost Double or Nothing & Edge Threat Elite... and we managed to run into quite a few opponents this weekend who did not seem to have Edge Protector enabled, because my 3 or 4 man rush was getting home a LOT.  I was worried that initially, Bosa was under-performing, but I believe i just did not have a large enough sample size at the time.  These two are a fierce combo.

Thanks for anyone at home still following along.  Have fun, be safe!  Pumped to be wearing my new 49ers TIE-DYE Away uniforms, goes nicely with the traditional Scarlet & Gold at home.

Added my son's favorite player as WR2, the Cheetah AKA card.  He's helping to crank out the solo (and other) challenges, kids have a week off for winter break.  Happy President's day, back to the grind for me, unfortunately.

I chose MVS (due to stats and the +1 Speed from Superbowl strategy item, was hoping that 98 Speed would help gain separation, especially on deep throws), so only fair he got to select the opposite WR upgrade...  we're currently back down to 50/50 49ers team chemistry (Gronk & Charles Haley both got +2 49ers team chemistry), so may need to find further adjustments, or revert some of the recent changes i've made if we want to make any other moves this week.

Only unlocked 2 (out of three total, for free) 95 OVR Motivator cards from the GG Vol 2 stuff.  Took the bonuses to my defense, starting with CB and then DT... unsure which i'll choose for third Motivator option, but i just discovered this great thread to learn more about what the community has suggested or been discussing.

Stayed up WAY too late grinding Madden, but holy... my goodness, Dre Greenlaw is an absolute heat seeking missile on the 49ers theme team, with the following stats:

• 98 Speed
• 99 Acceleration
• 99 Tackling

I can't believe i nearly slept on this choice, as i barely utilize linebackers in my scheme.  I'd been eyeballing Kwon Alexander for a while, but that 400-500K always felt just a bit steep for a seldom used position, which is also why i hadn't added Fred Warner to the squad, either.  Glad I was a little patient, because Dre is my new USER card and he's phenomenal.  Absolutely game-changer, he even finished the evening session with a Pick-Six.  He's got liek high end receiver speed.

Need to revise the lineup, further adjustments were made.  Kind of splurged last evening, but have a plan to try and earn some coin.  We shall see.  Thanks for following along, if anyone is out there!

peatrick said:

Stayed up WAY too late grinding Madden, but holy... my goodness, Dre Greenlaw is an absolute heat seeking missile on the 49ers theme team, with the following stats:

• 98 Speed
• 99 Acceleration
• 99 Tackling

I can't believe i nearly slept on this choice, as i barely utilize linebackers in my scheme.  I'd been eyeballing Kwon Alexander for a while, but that 400-500K always felt just a bit steep for a seldom used position, which is also why i hadn't added Fred Warner to the squad, either.  Glad I was a little patient, because Dre is my new USER card and he's phenomenal.  Absolutely game-changer, he even finished the evening session with a Pick-Six.  He's got liek high end receiver speed.

Need to revise the lineup, further adjustments were made.  Kind of splurged last evening, but have a plan to try and earn some coin.  We shall see.  Thanks for following along, if anyone is out there!

Dre Greenlaw is an absolute freak

Are you using Richard Sherman in the slot, and if so, how does he play there for you? I was initially running Jaylen Watson, Cromartie outside and Sherman in the slot, but felt he was always getting beaten. Swapped him and Cromartie, so now Sherman is outside and Cromartie is in the slot. I feel Sherman plays a bit better outside but am still debating on just replacing him completely.

Thanks for chiming in to share your experience(s), fellas and for the great question, DBW... +1 for the amazing name.  Lovely to see you here, sir.  Absolute pleasure to make your acquaintance, I'm beyond thrilled to hear from other Niners Faithful.

Here's how my 3-2 Dollar defense typically appears, at least for the middle.  I'm using the 98 speed, 99 acceleration Jason Verrett from one side and 96 speed, 97(ish) acceleration Sherman from the opposite side of the "Spinner" blitz package, out of this formation -- cannot recall off the top of my head Sherm's exact stats, but i'll check for you to confirm and report back.

For most of my MUT career (since Xmas, it was a gift i opened) i'd been running Cromartie (redux) on the outside, mostly for his 6'2" frame, with the 0AP Pick Artist & 1AP Medium Route KO ability buckets, but i've since replaced him with the 6'4" Nahshon Write from Competitive Pass.  He's only running 0AP Pick Artist at the moment, but i started dabbling with the 1AP Acrobat thinking that'd be fun, however it results in more swats and batted balls than picks, so i've since reverted to almost exclusively using Pick Artist everywhere i am able.  And just last evening i replaced Ed Reed as my FS, putting 97 speed Ronnie Lott back there, with Pick Artist & Deep Zone KO on my Safeties, for obvious reasons:

To summarize, sorry that was so long winded, i am really excitable about our 49ers and MUT theme team:

• Charvarius Ward (98 speed) & Nahshon Wright (96 speed) on the outsides
• Verrett (98 speed) & Sherman (96 speed) in the slot on either side
• Dre Greenlaw (98 speed / 99 acceleration) & Kevin Greene (94 speed, but WICKED good overall stats) as SUBLB
• Isaiah Rodgers as CB5 for the Motivator abilities bonus (+1 PRC, +1 MCV, +1 ZCV)

With all of these buffs and my legendary strategy bonus card (Man to Man), i'm pretty much running max 99 MCV across almost all of the DBs and my Press (PRS) stat is pretty darn close to being maxed out, as well.  I compare these things directly with brand new cards, such as Sauce Gardner and our team chemistry bonuses FAR exceed anything from even the best cards in the game.  Assuming that 99 is the absolute max you can reach, i believe we're in the end-game now.

Sorry, gotta run to stupid wr0k -- will check back soon, hope that helps.  Would love to hear more about your team.  Anyone on Playstation network?  Please feel free to add me: patpeatrick