eSports

Playing with a full deck

To really understand EA SPORTS FIFA’s Ultimate Team cards, you need the ultimate expert. And that’s ChuBoi

WORDS Seb Powell
Issue 13

For regular players of the EA SPORTS FIFA series, the release of a new instalment of Ultimate Team cards is like waking up on Christmas morning. So when the Road to the Final set drops to coincide with the knockout stage of the Champions League, it’s like chucking in a birthday as well. 

When it comes to summing up the excitement generated by these cards, few are better equipped to wax lyrical than Chukwuma Morah. More commonly known as ChuBoi to his legions of online followers, he’s a former EA employee turned online content creator, posting tutorials, reviews and reactions. He provides the latest tips for followers on streaming site Twitch, plus expertise on formations and negotiating the Ultimate Team transfer market. When that next set of cards lands ChuBoi will, as always, be on hand to deliver his thoughts on the latest stable of stars. Is a certain player fast enough? Does he have a decent weaker foot? That kind of thing.

“I always knew it had the potential to go crazy,” says ChuBoi of the decision to add the Champions League licence back in 2018. “The Champions League is as big as – if not bigger than – the World Cup. We always felt like FIFA was missing this one thing that makes it the complete football product; you just know what’s going on when you hear that anthem. It gives you goosebumps. It’s taken FIFA to a whole new level.” 

For regular players of the EA SPORTS FIFA series, the release of a new instalment of Ultimate Team cards is like waking up on Christmas morning. So when the Road to the Final set drops to coincide with the knockout stage of the Champions League, it’s like chucking in a birthday as well. 

When it comes to summing up the excitement generated by these cards, few are better equipped to wax lyrical than Chukwuma Morah. More commonly known as ChuBoi to his legions of online followers, he’s a former EA employee turned online content creator, posting tutorials, reviews and reactions. He provides the latest tips for followers on streaming site Twitch, plus expertise on formations and negotiating the Ultimate Team transfer market. When that next set of cards lands ChuBoi will, as always, be on hand to deliver his thoughts on the latest stable of stars. Is a certain player fast enough? Does he have a decent weaker foot? That kind of thing.

“I always knew it had the potential to go crazy,” says ChuBoi of the decision to add the Champions League licence back in 2018. “The Champions League is as big as – if not bigger than – the World Cup. We always felt like FIFA was missing this one thing that makes it the complete football product; you just know what’s going on when you hear that anthem. It gives you goosebumps. It’s taken FIFA to a whole new level.” 

Read the full story
Sign up now to get access to this and every premium feature on Champions Journal. You will also get access to member-only competitions and offers. And you get all of that completely free!

Born and raised in Nigeria before emigrating to Canada, ChuBoi has seen first-hand the influence of the game – particularly the Ultimate Team function – for those who don’t watch football in real life. “I went to an event in Vegas in 2014 and a bunch of kids were raving about this player for his skills, saying he was the best in the game. But they had no idea who he was outside the game. It was Arjen Robben! This is how so many people get into the sport: you pick a team on the game, identify your favourite player, follow them on Instagram and boom – you’re away.” 

ChuBoi’s introduction to football was via Ajax’s 1994/95 Champions League winning side, thanks to his affection for the Nigerian duo of Finidi George and Nwankwo Kanu. But he reveals that it was a midfielder now plying his trade at Manchester City who grabbed his attention on FIFA 13. “I had İlkay Gündoğan in my Ultimate Team and he was my best player. He was at Dortmund at the time so I started keeping an eye out for his performance in real life – and that’s what got me into the Bundesliga.” 

Since then Ultimate Team has taken things a step further, challenging the allegiances of FIFA players with the introduction of limited edition cards, which provide player ratings based on their team’s performances in real life. As an ardent Manchester United fan, ChuBoi begrudgingly accepts that if a rival team has to progress in the competition to improve his online squad, so be it. “I will say that of all the promotions in FIFA Ultimate Team, Road to the Final for the Champions League is the most heart-wrenching promotion. You can have a Virgil van Dijk special card but for it to improve, you need to watch your sworn rivals progress through the stages in real life. But then they can be knocked out and boom: there goes your upgrade. It’s a real mix of emotions.”

Alas it’s a case of double jeopardy for this United fan when discussing the ‘overpowered’ – or OP, for those in the esports world – player of the latest edition. “Erling Haaland. They’ve seemingly made him as unstoppable in the game as he is in real life. He’s so fast and with the new acceleration system, once he’s gone you can’t catch him.” If you want our advice ChuBoi then remember, it’s only a game…

For regular players of the EA SPORTS FIFA series, the release of a new instalment of Ultimate Team cards is like waking up on Christmas morning. So when the Road to the Final set drops to coincide with the knockout stage of the Champions League, it’s like chucking in a birthday as well. 

When it comes to summing up the excitement generated by these cards, few are better equipped to wax lyrical than Chukwuma Morah. More commonly known as ChuBoi to his legions of online followers, he’s a former EA employee turned online content creator, posting tutorials, reviews and reactions. He provides the latest tips for followers on streaming site Twitch, plus expertise on formations and negotiating the Ultimate Team transfer market. When that next set of cards lands ChuBoi will, as always, be on hand to deliver his thoughts on the latest stable of stars. Is a certain player fast enough? Does he have a decent weaker foot? That kind of thing.

“I always knew it had the potential to go crazy,” says ChuBoi of the decision to add the Champions League licence back in 2018. “The Champions League is as big as – if not bigger than – the World Cup. We always felt like FIFA was missing this one thing that makes it the complete football product; you just know what’s going on when you hear that anthem. It gives you goosebumps. It’s taken FIFA to a whole new level.” 

eSports

Playing with a full deck

To really understand EA SPORTS FIFA’s Ultimate Team cards, you need the ultimate expert. And that’s ChuBoi

WORDS Seb Powell

Text Link

For regular players of the EA SPORTS FIFA series, the release of a new instalment of Ultimate Team cards is like waking up on Christmas morning. So when the Road to the Final set drops to coincide with the knockout stage of the Champions League, it’s like chucking in a birthday as well. 

When it comes to summing up the excitement generated by these cards, few are better equipped to wax lyrical than Chukwuma Morah. More commonly known as ChuBoi to his legions of online followers, he’s a former EA employee turned online content creator, posting tutorials, reviews and reactions. He provides the latest tips for followers on streaming site Twitch, plus expertise on formations and negotiating the Ultimate Team transfer market. When that next set of cards lands ChuBoi will, as always, be on hand to deliver his thoughts on the latest stable of stars. Is a certain player fast enough? Does he have a decent weaker foot? That kind of thing.

“I always knew it had the potential to go crazy,” says ChuBoi of the decision to add the Champions League licence back in 2018. “The Champions League is as big as – if not bigger than – the World Cup. We always felt like FIFA was missing this one thing that makes it the complete football product; you just know what’s going on when you hear that anthem. It gives you goosebumps. It’s taken FIFA to a whole new level.” 

For regular players of the EA SPORTS FIFA series, the release of a new instalment of Ultimate Team cards is like waking up on Christmas morning. So when the Road to the Final set drops to coincide with the knockout stage of the Champions League, it’s like chucking in a birthday as well. 

When it comes to summing up the excitement generated by these cards, few are better equipped to wax lyrical than Chukwuma Morah. More commonly known as ChuBoi to his legions of online followers, he’s a former EA employee turned online content creator, posting tutorials, reviews and reactions. He provides the latest tips for followers on streaming site Twitch, plus expertise on formations and negotiating the Ultimate Team transfer market. When that next set of cards lands ChuBoi will, as always, be on hand to deliver his thoughts on the latest stable of stars. Is a certain player fast enough? Does he have a decent weaker foot? That kind of thing.

“I always knew it had the potential to go crazy,” says ChuBoi of the decision to add the Champions League licence back in 2018. “The Champions League is as big as – if not bigger than – the World Cup. We always felt like FIFA was missing this one thing that makes it the complete football product; you just know what’s going on when you hear that anthem. It gives you goosebumps. It’s taken FIFA to a whole new level.” 

Read the full story
Sign up now to get access to this and every premium feature on Champions Journal. You will also get access to member-only competitions and offers. And you get all of that completely free!

Born and raised in Nigeria before emigrating to Canada, ChuBoi has seen first-hand the influence of the game – particularly the Ultimate Team function – for those who don’t watch football in real life. “I went to an event in Vegas in 2014 and a bunch of kids were raving about this player for his skills, saying he was the best in the game. But they had no idea who he was outside the game. It was Arjen Robben! This is how so many people get into the sport: you pick a team on the game, identify your favourite player, follow them on Instagram and boom – you’re away.” 

ChuBoi’s introduction to football was via Ajax’s 1994/95 Champions League winning side, thanks to his affection for the Nigerian duo of Finidi George and Nwankwo Kanu. But he reveals that it was a midfielder now plying his trade at Manchester City who grabbed his attention on FIFA 13. “I had İlkay Gündoğan in my Ultimate Team and he was my best player. He was at Dortmund at the time so I started keeping an eye out for his performance in real life – and that’s what got me into the Bundesliga.” 

Since then Ultimate Team has taken things a step further, challenging the allegiances of FIFA players with the introduction of limited edition cards, which provide player ratings based on their team’s performances in real life. As an ardent Manchester United fan, ChuBoi begrudgingly accepts that if a rival team has to progress in the competition to improve his online squad, so be it. “I will say that of all the promotions in FIFA Ultimate Team, Road to the Final for the Champions League is the most heart-wrenching promotion. You can have a Virgil van Dijk special card but for it to improve, you need to watch your sworn rivals progress through the stages in real life. But then they can be knocked out and boom: there goes your upgrade. It’s a real mix of emotions.”

Alas it’s a case of double jeopardy for this United fan when discussing the ‘overpowered’ – or OP, for those in the esports world – player of the latest edition. “Erling Haaland. They’ve seemingly made him as unstoppable in the game as he is in real life. He’s so fast and with the new acceleration system, once he’s gone you can’t catch him.” If you want our advice ChuBoi then remember, it’s only a game…

For regular players of the EA SPORTS FIFA series, the release of a new instalment of Ultimate Team cards is like waking up on Christmas morning. So when the Road to the Final set drops to coincide with the knockout stage of the Champions League, it’s like chucking in a birthday as well. 

When it comes to summing up the excitement generated by these cards, few are better equipped to wax lyrical than Chukwuma Morah. More commonly known as ChuBoi to his legions of online followers, he’s a former EA employee turned online content creator, posting tutorials, reviews and reactions. He provides the latest tips for followers on streaming site Twitch, plus expertise on formations and negotiating the Ultimate Team transfer market. When that next set of cards lands ChuBoi will, as always, be on hand to deliver his thoughts on the latest stable of stars. Is a certain player fast enough? Does he have a decent weaker foot? That kind of thing.

“I always knew it had the potential to go crazy,” says ChuBoi of the decision to add the Champions League licence back in 2018. “The Champions League is as big as – if not bigger than – the World Cup. We always felt like FIFA was missing this one thing that makes it the complete football product; you just know what’s going on when you hear that anthem. It gives you goosebumps. It’s taken FIFA to a whole new level.” 

To access this article, as well as all CJ+ content and competitions, you will need a subscription to Champions Journal.
Already a subscriber? Sign in
close
Special Offers
christmas offer
Christmas CHEER
Up to 40% off
Start shopping
50% off
game night flash sale!!!
Don't miss out
00
Hours
:
00
minutes
:
00
Seconds
Valid on selected products only. subscriptions not included
close