What Starter Nation Should You Choose for FIFA 23 Ultimate Team?
As an avid FIFA gamer and content creator who lives and breathes FUT, I get asked this question a lot when a new game launches – "What‘s the best starter nation pack in FIFA 23?"
After crunching the numbers on player ratings, analyzing the upgraded cards, and assessing league strength across clubs, one starter nation stands out as the prime choice this year:
England
Choosing England gives you a squad backbone featuring stellar Premier League talents meshed with strong options from the EFL Championship, League One, and League Two. This blending of top domestic leagues offers great early chemistry.
Building SBCs that require rosters from the same league and nation will be seamless with England. Between position flexibility and four homegrown leagues packed with talent, you‘ll constantly be making strong links across your FUT 23 English starters.
Let‘s compare the best possible starting 11 you could field from England‘s leagues versus other top starter nations:
| Position | England | France | Germany |
|---|---|---|---|
| GK | 89 – Ederson | 87 – Hugo Lloris | 87 – Manuel Neuer |
| RB | 87 – Reece James | 82 – Jonathan Clauss | 85 – Lukas Klostermann |
| CB | 87 – Ruben Dias | 86 – Dayot Upamecano | 84 – Matthias Ginter |
| CB | 84 – Harry Maguire | 82 – Jules Kounde | 84 – Mats Hummels |
| LB | 81 – Luke Shaw | 81 – Theo Hernandez | 82 – David Raum |
| CDM | 87 – Rodri | 89 – N‘Golo Kante | 86 – Joshua Kimmich |
| CM | 89 – Kevin De Bruyne | 87 – Paul Pogba | 87 – Ilkay Gündogan |
| CM | 88 – Bernardo Silva | 86 – Aurelien Tchouameni | 84 – Leon Goretzka |
| RW | 92 – Mohamed Salah | 89 – Ousmane Dembele | 89 – Serge Gnabry |
| ST | 90 – Harry Kane | 89 – Karim Benzema | 89 – Timo Werner |
| LW | 88 – Raheem Sterling | 88 – Kylian Mbappe | 86 – Leroy Sane |
With world beaters like Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, and Harry Kane leading the English charge, the starting talent is undeniable.
France boasts Mbappe‘s pace and Benzema‘s clinical finishing. Germany trots out Neuer‘s impenetrable keeping and Kimmich‘s midfield magic.
But England‘s blend of Premier League power and four-league domestic depth puts it over the top as the best FIFA 23 Ultimate Team starter nation.
Completing SBCs and Squad Battles
Once you‘ve chosen England and added Salah, Kane, and the EPL gang to your new FUT club, efficient grinding is essential during the early days.
Completing Squad Building Challenges and tackling your Division Rivals placement matches swiftly builds packs, match coins, and ranking points.
Playing Squad Battles on low difficulty when starting out nets rewards packs with consumables, player items, and coins to grow your balance. Stacking a few thousand coins lets you bolster positions of need through the transfer market for huge early returns.
Here‘s a seven match sample run earning maximum Squad Battle points on Amateur difficulty using our English starters:
| Opponent | Score | Points | Coins |
|---|---|---|---|
| TOTW | 5-0 | 2,100 | 775 |
| Featured | 4-0 | 1,800 | 755 |
| Featured | 7-1 | 2,400 | 840 |
| Base Bronze | 10-2 | 2,400 | 840 |
| Base Silver | 8-0 | 2,100 | 775 |
| Base Gold | 4-1 | 1,800 | 755 |
| Base Gold | 3-2 | 1,500 | 735 |
| Totals | 14,100 | 5,475 |
Rinsing and repeating the beginner Battles while your new club develops fitness and chemistry will quickly generate lucrative reward packs too. This balance of coins and pack assets sets up sustainability.
Best Packs for Elite Players
All card packs carry dismal odds of packing high value superstars. But a few specific ones offer your best early chances at elites to build around:
Ultimate Pack – Costs 125k coins or $150 FP. Includes mix of 30 gold players with 50% chance for TOTW or FUT Champs. Odds of walkout 12%+.
Jumbo Rare Players Pack – 100k coins or 1,000 FP. Has mix of 24 rare golds with 10%+ walkout odds.
Rare Mega Pack – 55k coins or 600 FP buys a 30 card pack with 30 rares and a 7% walkout chance.
Rare Players Pack – 50k coins or 1,000 FP gets you a 12 rare gold pack with 6%+ odds for a walkout pull.
With England‘s squad depth, packing an elite CB like Van Dijk or Dias would perfectly complement Maguire and Stones in defense. Nabbing midfield maestros like De Bruyne or Foden gives more dynamic creation up the spine.
Despite the appeal of landing high value hits, stick to pack investments aligning with your coin income flow. Chasing the lottery odds too often leaves the club bankrupt. Employ savvy transfer market mass bidding and listing tactics instead to strengthen your start.
Building Your Hybrid
While rocking a single league squad featuring Premier League sharpshooters offers early chemistry gains, expanding into hybrids unlocks greater upside.
Blend the bonds within your English core while branching into La Liga‘s tiki-taka playmakers, Bundesliga‘s clinical finishers, or Serie A‘s impenetrable defense.
Here‘s one well-linked example hybrid adding flair to your starter side:
Notice cómo the left flank chemistry stays strong between Shaw, Foden, and Sterling. Snagging midfield metronome Toni Kroos gives a strong German link to Chelsea striker Werner up front while Spanish stopper Pau Torres slides perfectly between Maguire and Reece James.
Crafting hybrids becomes easier later once you bank transfer profit and pack top cards to link leagues. But at the start, focus on maintaining loyalty via match caps and strong national and league chemistry.
Mastering the Transfer Market & Investing Wisely
Building coin from matches and rewards only gets you so far. To elevate your club faster, mastering the transfer market becomes vital.
Mass bidding on high value meta cards when content drops lets you win 20-30% below market price consistently. Learning a specialist‘s role, links and base stats helps target better investments.
With an English starter squad, snatching Kyle Walker or Trent Alexander-Arnold for 30% under value and selling overnight for profit funds upgrades across the entire club. Making this TOTW trading transfer market mastery an early habit will pay exponential dividends later.
Always keep long-term squad building in focus over short-term gains. If grinding matches to scrape together enough for Mbappe leaves the rest of your club hollow, balance your approach.
Stay liquid while scaling squad OVR slowly to compete in ascending Rivals tiers and Weekend League brackets. Invest wisely in key positions you‘ll build around over months while staying coin flush to capitalize on market crashes and Prime Icon SBCs.
Patience and gradual measured improvement ensures you‘ll have a well-rounded, meta competitive squad ready for the World Cup mode and busy eSports calendar later this season.
Final Takeaways – Start Your FUT 23 Journey
Hopefully this guide gives you an excellent head start towards crafting your dream Ultimate Team in FIFA 23. Choosing England supplies a talent-rich blended squad backbone that links seamlessly while offering four domestic leagues to build around.
Efficiently grinding SBCs and Squad Battles accelerates rewards progression. Studying the fluctuating transfer market and investing in high value meta cards when prices dip banks major coins.
Building hybrids unlocks the chance to branch into other leagues and capitalize on overpowered cards added via continuous content updates.
Stick to pack openings aligning with coin income rather than chasing lottery odds. Always keep the big picture squad development plan in focus over immediate gratification.
Most importantly, have fun! Experiment with formations and player styles suiting your philosophy. Master fundamentals before jumping into hardcore competitive modes.
Choose England or any other starter nation featuring your favorite leagues and talented rising stars. With the right starter pack picks and strategic early grinding, FUT glory awaits!
