With a new season of Madden Ultimate Team on the horizon, one of the most popular questions from returning players is "What's different in MUT this year?". Today's article aims to answer that question and will be updated frequently until Madden 23's launch as more information is revealed. So bookmark this page and/or check back often!
Upcoming Changes to MUT
MUT Champions (Updated 8/9)
Weekend League is now called "MUT Champions" in Madden Ultimate Team 23 and it comes with a few changes:
- No more time constraints, play up to 25 games any day of the week
- Champs Entry Tokens grant access to MUT Champions and can be earned by making progress on the Competitive Field Pass
- Rewards for MUT Champions will appear instantly after your games in MUT 23, no more waiting until Tuesday
Sets 2.0 (Updated 8/9)
Sets in MUT 23 have been streamlined compared to sets in previous years. Sets can now be accessed from directly inside of your item binder, allowing you to complete them much easier and take advantage of filters when looking for specific items. While completing sets, your lowest cost, unused, and non-favorited items can be highlighted to help you add the right items as well. Some items used in sets will now return directly back into your item binder as "BND" or account bound, meaning they can no longer be collected, auctioned, or traded, but can still be used on the field or quicksold for reduced Training. Be sure to check set descriptions to see if your items will be returned as "BND" or not.
Competitive Play (Updated 8/9)
The following changes have been made to competitive game modes:
Solo Battles
- Games refresh daily (4 per day, 28 per week)
- Rewards will be earned instantly from the Competitive Field Pass
- Objectives on the Competitive Pass give rewards based on your number of wins and game difficulty
H2H Seasons
- Rewards will be earned instantly from the Competitive Field Pass
- The number of games in a season will be 8 and there will be a total of 6 divisions
- There will be an All-Madden Seasons mode
MUT Draft
- Ranked mode has been removed to create healthier matchmaking pools
- More regular updates to the draft pool throughout the year
- Salary Cap has been removed
Strategy Items (Updated 8/9)
A pain point for many players in MUT 22, especially early on, was getting the right Strategy Items. In an effort to improve the system, the following improvements have been made to Strategy Items in MUT 23:
- No SPD boosts appear on any Core Strategy Item in MUT 23
- Three total Strategy Item slots: Offense, Defense, and a new Team Affinity Strategy slot
- New ways to acquire Strategy Items include earning them from the Field Pass, pack offers in the Store, and most importantly, Strategy Items in MUT 23 will be auctionable (Huge W!)
Power-Ups and Elite Players
Power-Ups in Madden Ultimate Team 23 will be far less frequent and mostly reserved for the Legends program and other special programs this year. However, many of the perks that Power-Ups provide can now be found directly on "most elites". Check out some of the key changes below:
- Lower OVR Elite Players will have ability buckets that align with their archetype
- Higher OVR Elite Players will have custom ability buckets and feature discounted AP abilities and/or abilities from other archetypes
- Most Elites will have the ability to swap team chemistry (ex: Core Elite Russell Wilson can equip Broncos or Seahawks team chemistry)
- Most Elites will be able to get their secondary positions when applicable (ex: Core Elite Aaron Donald can equip LE or DT secondary position chemistry)
- Power-Up design will exist in certain programs (ex: Legends program will have Power-Up design within it)
- Player art can still be swapped where applicable
MUT Master
There will no longer be a MUT Master (Ultimate Champion in 22) in MUT 23. Instead, each season of MUT 23 will have its own featured player rewards that can be earned by completing objectives, similar to how you would upgrade the MUT Master in previous years. There will also be a new featured player reward available every two weeks for winning head-to-head games.
Field Pass
If you're familiar with Battle Passes in other games, such as Fortnite, Call of Duty, and Rocket League, then think of this as Madden's version of a Battle Pass. Passes are reward structures that allow you to earn items as you gain more XP and/or complete objectives. There will be 3 different types of Field Passes in Madden Ultimate Team 23, all of which are FREE.
- Season Field Pass - Each season in Madden Ultimate Team will come with a new Field Pass, offering new rewards such as coins, XP, players, and packs. Five players will be available to earn in Season 1.
- Competitive Field Pass - If you're a H2H player, then you're in luck. MUT 23 will include a Field Pass with player rewards for engaging with head-to-head game modes. A new featured player will be available every 2 weeks with this Field Pass. Solo Battles players will also find their rewards within this Pass.
- Program Field Pass - Major programs in MUT 23 will come with their own unique Field Pass with additional rewards. See the image below for an example of the Headliners Field Pass Rewards:
BND
You may have noticed a "BND" symbol in the bottom-right corner of some items revealed so far by EA and be wondering what that means. BND stands for "account bound", meaning this item can not be collected, auctioned, or traded. If you played MUT 22, this is essentially just a new name for NCAT items.
X-Factors and Abilities
A few smaller, but welcomed changes coming to MUT 23 are the reduced Training cost of both X-Factors and Tier 1 abilities. In MUT 22, an X-Factor cost 500 Training Points to equip. In the earliest stages of the game, 500 TP can be a lot. This year, X-Factors will only cost 100 TP to equip and all Tier 1 abilities will cost 0 TP! All Tier 1 abilities in M23 will also only account for 1 Ability Point against your allotted total (with some exceptions for offensive linemen).
Baked-On Abilities
If you played MUT 22, you probably earned a player item with a baked-on X-Factor or abilities that you wanted to use, but couldn't due to the fact that you could not disable individual abilities. For example, if you wanted to add Acrobat to the latest cornerback released but he already had a less desirable ability like Homer baked on, you had to pay the AP cost for both abilities if you wanted to use either. There was no option to only equip Acrobat. In MUT 23, you will now be able to remove baked-on abilities, providing you with more customization and control over your lineup. A player item will no longer be unusable just because it comes with an ability you do not want to use!
Which change(s) are you most excited about this year?
