shards is a scam

Only BASE OVR counts and it's been that way for years.

And if you wanna see which player is ranked up or not before choosing him,click on the card and see how many rank up he has.

1. How are new players supposed to know that? By reading the fine print?
2. what’s the point of giving the user a ranked up player as a reward, instead of a player with a high BASE OVR?

It’s done purposely to trick players into wasting their selection, so they have less of a chance to get the ridiculous amount of shards they need.

If they told us we’re picking between 30 shards and 10 shards it would be an easy choice. But they have us thinking we’re choosing between 30 and 120, then we find out the 120 is really 10 in disguise. It’s just sinister.

You have a way of finding out and it's been that way for years,as i said.

Now you know and you won't get "tricked" anymore,i hope.

Like the guy said above, you learn by observing things. And those players are not only for you to exchange them for shards. Some players might use them. They come in handy when you build your squad and don't have a lot of Mascherano cards. They are also good for training other players because of their training value which is bigger compared with an unranked card.

I see what you both are saying. But don’t you agree it is very deceptive? 

You could say it is... I think the first time when you realise how things work... But although I am not a big fan of EA practice some of the things in the game are just how they saw/imagine the game. And for sure a lot of the stuff they do is part of their marketing plan to make put real money into the game.