chotchbag said:

It’s crazy that people are taking a conversation about the integrity and progression of Maddens micro transactions which are now into the free field pass. To whether or not buying the deluxe edition for $30 more is nms or not. That’s kind of the epitome of this community rn. The devs at EA are literally ripping this community apart with microtransactions and choosing to half the MUT player base with the release of CUT and we’re mad about whether or not someone who bought the deluxe edition is nms or not. F off !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well said!!!

peatrick said:

I mean, sure it CAN be done, but most people (especially younger kids or the bulk of the casual twenty-somethings) lack your knowledge and experience with financial markets.  I'm not sure coin stack is the measure of success in a video game.  Sure it helps to be able to fund a decent squad, but if yer spending the majority of yer ~2 hours daily working the auction house, clearly you won't have time to try and compete in Ranked play, let alone anywhere else.

We all have limited time on this planet, how or what/where to spend those minutes is the real challenge.  At the end of the day, we're ALL paying for it, in one way or another.  Time is money after all, so two hours or ten or twenty bucks -- these are basically the same thing, at least in my mind.  A person has to build an awful lot of ~1.5-2.5k (per) sets to get started with this scenario.  Already starting to sound an awful lot liek virtual wr0k.  Most kids cannot even be patient enough to wait for a proper "snipe" let alone think about how to build towards the future... and very few are going to have any experience with Forex.  Heck, if they did, those people would almost certainly be better off obsessing and learning how to trade crypto, versus spending hours per day navigating EA's tightly controlled markets.

NMS is basically a fallacy, but i respect and appreciate anyone who is able to remain true to their principles and rise above or otherwise avoid these bullshit "pay to win" (P2W) game mechanics, which have zero business being part of ANY online, competitive h2h title... especially not one purporting to be a "simulation" football franchise.

It's hella fun to play virtual GM.  I waste so much time team building week to week, so i have no place to point fingers at anyone else, but taking these type conversations from open / public forums to private Discord servers is bad for the community.  It splinters us into smaller and smaller groups and removes any transparency from the process or conversation.

Winning the lottery also "can" be done, but it's not an approach i'd recommend for most.

Good points. But I learned how to work the Madden markets from a THEN 22/23 year old Youtuber. It was after watching him for weeks that it clicked it was exactly like a real life forex exchange.

That youtuber was ijoebruin (for those wondering). I'm still on his discord and there are teenagers there with over 50m coins and most of them are "NMS"

mythomaniac said:

It's cool man.

It's all fun and it's all good, then one day you wake up and your account is F..ked by EA for sniping cards to use in sets.

I'm sick and tired of these bastards doing whatever they want to the players.

I swear that I will not spend another dime on EA and I will make it a family tradition to boycott these slithering a-holes for as long as my bloodline survives.

Yeah in Madden 23 I was popped TWICE for sniping. I've kinda learned how to walk away from a deal that's TOO good.

I was unbanned both times but lost 2 weeks each time

phatalerror said:

What did I say from which you inferred I was being malicious? I just don't like the blurring of truth in general. Most people don't, unless the blurring of truth makes their own ideals, desires, or actions more acceptable to themselves or others.

You're either from a place, or you're not. You either have a job, or you don't. You're either married or not. Appropriating "NMS" isn't high on anyone's list of capital offenses, but claiming you can be NMS and make coins easily obscures the fact that it's a lot harder to get from one coin to one million than it is to get from one million coins to ten million. And guys like the OP bought the first part in about a day. And then claim NMS isn't a substantial barrier to competition. That's where I throw the flag.

Buying the standards game itself is money spent so just upgrading for 3 extra days  and like 45$ in points isn’t that much extra. And also the standard edition comes with some benefits if you order early I think

IKeys said:

I'll. keep repeating... You dont have to "spend money" to build a significant MUT nest egg...

I'm married with 2 children, a full time job plus 2 side hustles... Meaning I have AT MOST 2 hours a day to play, many days just 1 hour and I have gone 3 weeks without picking up a controller at least TWICE since Madden 25 dropped (plus more shorter breaks of a week or less). I received the 4600 points from buying the Deluxe Edition and the 15 dollars for Season 3's Premium Field Pass (I instantly regretted this). Other than that. I have been NMS.

i made just under 300k from the 4600 points (most of it was Plat players I used for 2 or 3 weeks before quickselling). Those first 3 weeks all the coins I had were from grinding Challenges/Solo Battles/Solo Seasons then investing them into sets that gave me 1.5k - 2.5k profit per set. I'd list then play while waiting for them to sell and then reinvest. When I got over 1m, I started making investments (mostly buying players for cheap early in the week that would play on my team then selling them over the weekend for small profit).

Eventually I found 3 or 4 players that I could snipe for cheap and sell for profit overnight and rinsing and repeating (these 3 or 4 changed roughly every few weeks). Then Id go to the store; find deals that introduced a flood of certain cards into the market then go scoop as many of those cards as I could afford. Then wait 2 or 3 days and sell them for a tidy profit when supply dries up and they go back up in price.

Sometimes, I'd take a loss during a week. But I leaned on my experience trading forex and stocks: I always locked away a reserve I never touched (either as raw coins or LTD/Platinums). That way I always had capital if a deal presented itself and I was never in danger of blowing my account

It took me about a month to make my first 1m. I'm now at 14m with another 2m and I only recently moved into Legends in H2H. This is because I'm far from elite at playing the actual game (but Ive gotten better as the year goes). II've never played ranked, champs or gauntlet and I played 4 games of ZC MUT Draft (won 2). I say this to dispel the notion that I've stacked coins by winning games and getting SB rewards (my best run was going 8-0 then falling 1 game short earlier this week). I plan to be at 20m in COINS and 2-3m in Binder investments going into the SB promo.

My team is usually 90% BNDs and/or LTDs. But I spoiled myself over Christmas with a 95 OVR team (which I've now sold back). I plan to start spending coins during the SB Promo through Sugar Rush then Ultimate Legends & Golden Tickets. Ive played every other Madden since 21 (21, 23 and 25) and gotten better at this as I've gone along. If I can do it with my age, schedule and mediocre game play then 70-80% of you young guns can do MUCH better.

PS: I'm in a discord with several guys who have upwards of 30m coins and are true "No Money Spent". I'd love to hear from other NMS Players doing well. Also feel free to share tips, ask questions, etc. I'm sure the community will be glad to assist.

ItCanBeDone

“Time played” 🧢

touchdownking said:

Buying the standards game itself is money spent so just upgrading for 3 extra days  and like 45$ in points isn’t that much extra. And also the standard edition comes with some benefits if you order early I think

Again, I ask: What it is that defines the true spirit of “NMS”? This is not an argument about semantics. Your response disingenuously dodges the issue by conflating the problem of microtransactions with the mere license to play the game. Yes, I’m calling you out for that too. But you know that your answer is exactly the one everyone gives when the issue puts them in an indefensible position. Defend your position with integrity, or concede.

Yes, the coins bought with points are a huge accelerator to progress, and MUT 25’s restriction of Ultimate Preseason to Deluxe Edition users was another huge boost when compared with the purchasers of the Standard Edition.

What did I get for pre-ordering Standard Edition? A Christian McCaffrey BND I soon quicksold for training.

The one thing that separates some Standard Edition users from others would be items earned through the prior year’s Rookie Premiere program. But those have principally been BND items. If I could earn an actionable champion such as MUT 24‘s Aiden Hutchinson, there’s actually a substantial competitive advantage there, and talking this out, if that opportunity exists in MUT 26 and I otherwise haven’t been driven away from MUT, I would sell such an item and buy it back later once I used those initial proceeds to build up my coinstack. In none of my above-mentioned examples are microtransactions an issue.

Care to get back to the real issue here? The topic was about how NMS wasn’t a barrier to building up a coinstack. The answer is - all available and relevant data points considered - NMS imposes a very consequential and persistent barrier to developing the coinstack essential to field a competitive team. It’s not until you have accumulated many millions of coins that you can be on par with skilled users who bought their coins with Deluxe Edition or microtransactions.

Whether it’s boastful or not does it change the relevance? Yes we can fight over the NMS moniker or we can take the parts that are relevant or useful and leave whatever we don’t want behind. I can also understand it can be difficult to convey things online without the use of things like infliction, facial expressions and everyone’s favorite “air quotes.” My intention has been misconstrued more than once in this community and I’m as guilty as any of assuming the worst in others. I’ll work under the assumption of positive vibes.

It definitely can be done and the more information we provide to one another about ways to accomplish that the more we all benefit. Even if you disagree with how the other person went out about certain details. So no one misconstrues my message I am not NMS. The reality for me is with my coin stack not only do I not need to spend another dollar on this game I don’t need to work the AH the rest of Madden 25 but I will end up doing both. The question is am I boasting or am I simply trying to convey the message we all play are own way, there’s room for us all and there’s value to be gleaned from practically everyone and everything?

I agree that I often see posts about how much this game costs and this is helpful. So thanks for sharing and keep kicking ass.

phatalerror said:

Again, I ask: What it is that defines the true spirit of “NMS”? This is not an argument about semantics. Your response disingenuously dodges the issue by conflating the problem of microtransactions with the mere license to play the game. Yes, I’m calling you out for that too. But you know that your answer is exactly the one everyone gives when the issue puts them in an indefensible position. Defend your position with integrity, or concede.

Yes, the coins bought with points are a huge accelerator to progress, and MUT 25’s restriction of Ultimate Preseason to Deluxe Edition users was another huge boost when compared with the purchasers of the Standard Edition.

What did I get for pre-ordering Standard Edition? A Christian McCaffrey BND I soon quicksold for training.

The one thing that separates some Standard Edition users from others would be items earned through the prior year’s Rookie Premiere program. But those have principally been BND items. If I could earn an actionable champion such as MUT 24‘s Aiden Hutchinson, there’s actually a substantial competitive advantage there, and talking this out, if that opportunity exists in MUT 26 and I otherwise haven’t been driven away from MUT, I would sell such an item and buy it back later once I used those initial proceeds to build up my coinstack. In none of my above-mentioned examples are microtransactions an issue.

Care to get back to the real issue here? The topic was about how NMS wasn’t a barrier to building up a coinstack. The answer is - all available and relevant data points considered - NMS imposes a very consequential and persistent barrier to developing the coinstack essential to field a competitive team. It’s not until you have accumulated many millions of coins that you can be on par with skilled users who bought their coins with Deluxe Edition or microtransactions.

I get your point, and I agree with you on that for sure, but I really don’t think that it is that much of a significant barrier between nms and money spent. For example, last year I spend a few hundred dollars on the game, I had a really nasty team for a while and played pretty well I think, but i was probably 5-60 against nms players. They had all the bnd cards and some champions and an occasional LTD rental, but even though their team was worse on paper, they still beat me a lot. Now this could have definitely been that I suck at madden, but I never felt like I could just spend some money and easily beat worse teams than me all the time

phatalerror said:

Again, I ask: What it is that defines the true spirit of “NMS”? This is not an argument about semantics. Your response disingenuously dodges the issue by conflating the problem of microtransactions with the mere license to play the game. Yes, I’m calling you out for that too. But you know that your answer is exactly the one everyone gives when the issue puts them in an indefensible position. Defend your position with integrity, or concede.

Yes, the coins bought with points are a huge accelerator to progress, and MUT 25’s restriction of Ultimate Preseason to Deluxe Edition users was another huge boost when compared with the purchasers of the Standard Edition.

What did I get for pre-ordering Standard Edition? A Christian McCaffrey BND I soon quicksold for training.

The one thing that separates some Standard Edition users from others would be items earned through the prior year’s Rookie Premiere program. But those have principally been BND items. If I could earn an actionable champion such as MUT 24‘s Aiden Hutchinson, there’s actually a substantial competitive advantage there, and talking this out, if that opportunity exists in MUT 26 and I otherwise haven’t been driven away from MUT, I would sell such an item and buy it back later once I used those initial proceeds to build up my coinstack. In none of my above-mentioned examples are microtransactions an issue.

Care to get back to the real issue here? The topic was about how NMS wasn’t a barrier to building up a coinstack. The answer is - all available and relevant data points considered - NMS imposes a very consequential and persistent barrier to developing the coinstack essential to field a competitive team. It’s not until you have accumulated many millions of coins that you can be on par with skilled users who bought their coins with Deluxe Edition or microtransactions.

Sorry for the long cc: here, but phatlerror makes the single most important point in this whole “debate” (that’s been going on for years and won’t die): namely, that “accumulating millions of coins” is what is required to succeed in MUT. I’ve played for a decade-plus, and any other suggestion doesn’t jibe with my experience. In reality, there are three ways to get there:

1) Constant point buying. No playing or Auction House skill required. And little to discuss here.

2) Release point “buying”/acquisition. You get some benefits at launch through the version you purchase. For transparency‘s sake, I’m here as a PC EA Play Pro member, I get 500 points a month. 

3) True NMS. No points at release, and only minor training grants via BND cards. 
 

So what makes Types 2 or 3 “competitive”? Lemme suggest that a 2 million coin balance allows a player to cycle out program champions and maybe invest in an LTD or two (max) at a time. 
 

My argument is that the 4600 point start at release does create a 150-350k coin base (which helps!) but in itself doesn’t create “coin sustainability”.  Only three things to do:

1) Long term patience and program play (FPs, solos, etc) 

2) Skilled play via high value events (Champs, Gauntlet, Ranked, and this year, multiple Super Bowl wins in Seasons)

3) Auction House savvy (and some luck)

Now the REAL question is how you get from coin sustainability to coin wealth (5 million+)?  We know the answer: it’s the Auction House. 
 

Why the speech?  Because NMS/LMS coming to this site to crow about their success are all saying the same thing: “I either played or traded well.”  Eventually, unless you’re playing world class, you’re trading well. And NMSers played/traded hard for an extra 2-3 weeks. Congrats!  But you’re not unique and you’re not a hero.

IKeys said:

Yeah in Madden 23 I was popped TWICE for sniping. I've kinda learned how to walk away from a deal that's TOO good.

I was unbanned both times but lost 2 weeks each time

Good to know, thanks 🙂

IKeys said:

Your wild guess is not just WRONG, it's flat out projecting 😏. Not everyone thinks like you buddy. I'm in my 40s (meaning I don't need validation from a mostly younger community of gamers) and life is GREAT.

I'm also a life-long trainer/teacher. I've taught in schools, being a life-coach, consultant and even a seminary lecturer 😎.  It's in my nature to try help people figure out things especially when I USED to struggle in the same area.

I kept reading posts on this site where SO many ppl cried about bot being able to build a decent team without spending their life-savings. So I figured I'd write a post with a provocative title and hopefully some of the people I want to.help would read it.

I also guessed they'd be some highly strung and tightly wound dudes like you who'd come for me but I could care less. 

Finally I included an invitation in my OP to others with even better results than me to chime in. But I guess it strokes my ego to read people who are even more adept at something than me right?

Your last paragraph seems like a self-reflection to me. Would you like me to recommend a good therapist to help you work through it? 🤔🤪😏

You sure it seems you just wanted attention writing this post. You seem like a divider instead of  an Uniter. Who cares if you spend money or not, right?  Maybe you need more training as a life coach, bro.😎

jsmiller2003 said:

Sorry for the long cc: here, but phatlerror makes the single most important point in this whole “debate” (that’s been going on for years and won’t die): namely, that “accumulating millions of coins” is what is required to succeed in MUT. I’ve played for a decade-plus, and any other suggestion doesn’t jibe with my experience. In reality, there are three ways to get there:

1) Constant point buying. No playing or Auction House skill required. And little to discuss here.

2) Release point “buying”/acquisition. You get some benefits at launch through the version you purchase. For transparency‘s sake, I’m here as a PC EA Play Pro member, I get 500 points a month. 

3) True NMS. No points at release, and only minor training grants via BND cards. 
 

So what makes Types 2 or 3 “competitive”? Lemme suggest that a 2 million coin balance allows a player to cycle out program champions and maybe invest in an LTD or two (max) at a time. 
 

My argument is that the 4600 point start at release does create a 150-350k coin base (which helps!) but in itself doesn’t create “coin sustainability”.  Only three things to do:

1) Long term patience and program play (FPs, solos, etc) 

2) Skilled play via high value events (Champs, Gauntlet, Ranked, and this year, multiple Super Bowl wins in Seasons)

3) Auction House savvy (and some luck)

Now the REAL question is how you get from coin sustainability to coin wealth (5 million+)?  We know the answer: it’s the Auction House. 
 

Why the speech?  Because NMS/LMS coming to this site to crow about their success are all saying the same thing: “I either played or traded well.”  Eventually, unless you’re playing world class, you’re trading well. And NMSers played/traded hard for an extra 2-3 weeks. Congrats!  But you’re not unique and you’re not a hero.

Well said! Dude needed attention he thinks he’s a rare dodo bird but he’s not.

IKeys said:

I was upfront about buying the Deluxe version of the game. Everyone has the right/opportunity to do that. Also I'm not really boasting about being "NMS". I have no issues with ppl spending money. I can afford to spend big and build. God-squad. I choose not to cause I enjoy the challenge of building a team and working the market organically. 

It gives me a sense of fulfilment. Plus I'm using MUT to teach my boys about financial discipline and investments/trading.

But I just got tired of constantly reading ppl saying the only way to have loads or coins/a great team is to spend 100s and 1000s on packs or buy coins from 3rd party sites

I am a 13 year old mut player and I have 7 mil and 93 ovr with zc boots with spending $100. I think is ok to spend money but I do not consider that nms.

I’m tempted to change my moniker to NFS. I’ll let you all figure out what the F stands for but that will probably just feed it. Even Cookie Monster eats veggies now. Arugula?