Not defending anything. its my take on the rank ups and benefits of it (except for the fact its harder to get them now as some "URP gold mines" giving Mascherano's away like a candy have been removed and a fact training got made a lot more expensive since you cant cheaply rank up 70's to greens).
It's just how many people in my league are playing (and people in my Discord server). The only luck factor is what OVR cards you get, but having a plan for what to do with your "pack luck" or lack of one, has nothing to do with luck itself. Most days you get garbage like everyone. Anyway, it's about understanding the game and not falling for the stupid OVR chase. Play your game, not someone else’s. OVR only matters in VSA. It means nothing in H2H or MM. MM is just random and not worth caring about. It is a mode that gives out free resources.
So the group I mentioned above, we mostly stick to keeping our lineups themed. I only claim cards that fit the criteria (Icon or Hero, ideally a favorite player from the past). I also have Juve, Barca, Serie A, Bundesliga and La Liga themed squads using Icons only. I ignore the currently active players. I skip events if there’s nothing of interest to me, other than bare autoplay to get a minimum top OVR Icon that fits the criteria mentioned and to keep the league competitive so we can reach 100 ranks.
I rank up cards only when I know I will keep the card or if I can make serious coin on it. Some of the 109s are very good meta cards for H2H. 109 Gullit is still a god in midfield. Even the two new Zidanes, 111 and 113, are nowhere near him when it comes to dominating the game in the centre of the park. I claimed the Ragnarok one, then somehow got the BdOr on day two. So yes, that was extremely lucky, but it also gives me insight into two highly sought after cards where 109 card is far better than 113...... (so they play next to each other haha). Some other older cards still hold value. Zambrotta 108, an ancient card, is still worth the same coins I paid for it months ago. Previous BdOr Cruyff or Stoichkov are still absolutely magic cards in H2H (and were not cheap but still attract decent coin).
One of the lads in my Discord server is sitting on 100bn by just playing the market since gameplay is broken at the moment. Sniping new cards is one way, along with finding trends, waves and so on. A limit to the ranks in my opinion will actually stabilize the market. Until last week, many prices were washed out within a day or so where your unranked card ended up being more expensive than a red or gold ranked up one. There will also be other demand driven by limited ranks as well as the introduction of badges.
The untradeable cards you speak of would mostly be high 90s, meaning you can exchange them for tokens and get some tradeables back or use the shards elsewhere. Low 90s go into rank exchanges. Anything under 90 OVR is just training fodder now since they are worthless anyway.
So yeah, as I said at the start, a lot of it is understanding the game and making the most of it despite its current shortfalls.
