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
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)
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.
- Head to Head 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.
- 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?