Vangelis Pavlidis - 115 OVR is way better than 116.

Hi all!

Yes, you've read it correctly.. 115 is greater than 116. In mathematics 115>116.

I've been using Vangelis Pavlidis 115 Capped Legends Player as main striker in my 433 Holding formation since packing it in the Capped Legends Draft, and I really like it!

I feel the card has strength, good pace, good dribbling, good heading, great finishing and it's default roulette skill move is very effective. Even though I knew there were many other 'better' strikers with higher OVR, I preferred to keep Pavlidis because I like him as a player in real life, but also because it was very good in game-play for me. If I were to nitpick, its passing wasn't good, and I also felt it's AI often played too deep like a false 9, when I would have preferred it to play higher up where its strength and was an advantage against defenders.

Admittedly I haven't much experience with other strikers to be able to compare, but honestly I think  it's brilliant!

Anyway... TOTS Event came along and with it a 116 version of the same player. I compared the stats between the two and saw that the 116 card was basically the same just with a slight increase in each stat. I was like yeah I'll take two!! I tried to packing it in La Liga draft but it didn't happen (In Capped Legends Draft I had packed it 4 times!!!), so I signed it with Star Shards, ranked up and training transfer to the same level (25).

I was thinking ' The same only better - bring it on!!'.... How wrong was I?

I've been playing the 116 card for a good while now and I can say for sure that it is not an improved version of the 115 Capped Legend, no, it's actually worse.

The 115 card could score from anywhere, very rarely would it miss the target. With the 116 version, shots off target are way more frequent. Power shots from outside the box ALWAYS end up in the crowd. I remember scoring loads of power shots from outside the box with the 115.

I can't discern any increase in pace, strength or dribbling. If anything i feel a decrease. It seems to get bossed off the ball more frequently.

The 115's Roulette is way more effective than the 116's fake shot which nearly always results in loss of possession) so naturally I avoid using it.

Granted, the 115's passing and vision left a lot to be desired, but it was manageable. The 116's passing and vision is almost a guaranteed fail. 

The only trait that is on par between the two is the heading.

So when this player receives the ball, I already start worrying - is it going to get bossed of the ball? Is it going to perform a silly pirouette fake shot and lose possession? Is it going to pass the ball to a someone in the crowd? or worse to the opposition? Is it going to sky it? It doesn't inspire anywhere near the same level of confidence the 115 version did.

Now this doesn't make sense. How can an increased OVR, with an increase in every stat, result in a player that is worse in almost every way?

If anyone else has had experience with Vangelis Pavlidis could you share your views here? I invite anyone who is willing to test these two cards back to back and share their findings too.

In the meantime I'm going back to my Capped Legend Pavlidis!