EA Sports has always liked to mark Halloween with a promotion that completely transforms a set of cards. The Ultimate Scream promotion that ran until up until (and including) FIFA 20, which saw EA choose two teams of players and send one or two of their “face stats” — the six that appear on their actual card — up into the ‘90s, produced some iconic cards: an early-game version of Zlatan Ibrahimovic with 85 Pace, a Roberto Firmino that could play at CDM, and a Sergio Busquets with 99 Pace and Shooting to go with his solid defensive stats to name a few.
FIFA 21 saw EA depart from the Ultimate Scream model and unveil a new promotion, Rulebreakers, which eschewed the blatant Halloween theme for something a little more subtle: cards would “sacrifice” part of their best stat in exchange for a small boost to all their other stats and significant boost to one of them. For instance, Harry Kane sacrificed four points in Shooting to gain 23 Pace, Paul Pogba gave up nine points in Passing for 16 extra points in Defence, and Anderson Talisca traded four points in Physicality for seven points in Pace (and the title of my absolute favourite early-game card in FIFA 21). It’s an interesting promo, bringing a whole set of different players into the meta, giving them a new or different play style, or just plugging key gaps in their skillsets, and it’s back in FIFA 22.
Both sets of Rulebreaker cards have been released now, and they’re all out of packs, but this is a promotion that’s set to keep on giving. The cards in this list should remain in the meta well into 2022, and even if they don’t, they’re still just a hell of a lot of fun to use. I’ve also been sure not to include any cards that were only available via SBC; there’s no point recommending a card that readers can’t go and get!
Let us know what you think of our selections in the comments, or over on our social media!
Jesus Corona (Mexico, RM, Liga Portugal — FC Porto)
Price: 38,500 (PS5)
The Trade-off: -14 Defending, + 19 Shooting
Best Position: CAM, LW, RW
This might very well be the best trade-off of the bunch, if I’m honest. Sure, he’s lost 14 points in Defending, but Corona’s base card is a right midfielder with a five-star weak foot, five-star skill moves… and a whopping 39 Strength. You weren’t using him for his defensive capabilities anyway, because a training dummy would bully him into submission, but he wasn’t a great attacking option either due to his 67 Shooting.
By turning those 14 points in Defending into an additional 19 points in Shooting, while also adding four points to his Pace and Passing and three to his Dribbling, EA addressed Corona’s biggest flaw and created one of the best attacking cards you can buy at any price, let alone for 60,000 coins. Sure, there aren’t too many ways to link him outside of using Icons or a Liga Portugal squad (though you can use the Road to the Knockout version of Wilson Manafá for a strong link), but the Liga Portugal Squad Foundations cards that EA just released are all perfectly viable… and he’ll make an outstanding substitute if you want to inject some flair and playmaking late in games!
Dejan Kulusevski (Sweden, RM, Serie A — Piemonte Calcio)
Price: 22,750 (PS5)
The Trade-off: -23 Defending, +9 Pace/+7 Shooting
Best Position: ST, RW
FIFA 21 players fawned over Kulusevski’s Future Stars card, which added some serious Pace and Dribbling to the 6’1” Swede’s base stats to create an absolutely lethal winger who could play out wide or as the main striker — and who had a strong chemistry link to one Cristiano Ronaldo. Dejan’s FIFA 22 Rulebreaker card is… basically that, with slightly lower stats across the board to adjust for being released in November instead of February.
Instead of going all-in on one particular stat, EA divided those 23 points in Defending across all five other face stats — with particular love given to his Finishing, Long Passing, Agility and Balance — to create a phenomenal attacking option for the Serie A lovers out there. What you’ve got now is someone who’s equally at home as a target man or as a creative type; who can win headers and dribble opponents into submission; and who’ll out-run and out-muscle just about anyone. For 30,000 coins, and considering that the only other “meta” option in his league and position is his teammate Federico Chiesa’s new Team of the Tournament card at ten times the price… This is an absolute steal.
Marko Arnautovic (Austria, ST, Serie A — Bologna)
Price: 13,000 (PS5)
The Trade-off: -3 Passing, +11 Dribbling
Best Position: ST
Marko Arnautovic is 6’4”, and his base card actually has some solid stats for a centre-forward; his major drawback to his card — and every other tall, powerful striker in FIFA 22 — is that the game is built for nimble, agile, Messi-or-Neymar-type players, not physical specimens like him. With this Rulebreaker card, EA completely negated all of Arnautovic’s weaknesses at the literally-unnoticeable cost of three points in Passing.
Just like his base card, his new version of the Austrian beast is tall enough to win headers without too much effort and strong enough to hold Hercules and Eddie Hall at bay… but he’s also now fast enough to get in behind the defence and nimble enough to dribble around his man. This card is the second coming of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in his prime (or his Flashback card from FIFA 21), scoring in every manner you could think to try and with absolutely no weaknesses to speak of. He’s also only 13,000 coins and works phenomenally as a lone forward, or as a running mate for the aforementioned Kulusevski… Or as a super-sub who’s almost guaranteed to score. You quite literally cannot go wrong.
Casemiro (Brazil, CDM, LaLiga Santander — Real Madrid)
Price: 61,500 (PS5)
The Trade-Off: -4 Physicality, +13 Shooting
Best Position: CDM
To be completely honest, Casemiro isn’t here because of the trade-off like the rest of the cards on this list. He’s here because the additional five points in Pace on this Rulebreaker card — more specifically, the eight points EA added to his Acceleration — combined with his already-outstanding defensive attributes have made him well and truly “usable” for the first time in a long time.
Even with the reduction, his Physicality still comes in at a respectable (and well-rounded) 86 to go with his 87 Defending, and he’s now got the added capability to push forward and get you some goals if you’re looking for someone to do that for you. He pairs beautifully with Marcos Llorente to create one of the most dynamic midfield pairings you’re likely to find, or he can sit behind Llorente and Frenkie De Jong in a 4-1-2-1-2, or you can drop him to centre-back in a three-at-the-back formation… And he hyper-links to Vinicius Junior, one of the best special items in the game.
Frank Onyeka (Nigeria, CDM, Premier League — Brentford)
Price: 75,000 (PS5)
The Trade-Off: -5 Pace, +11 Defending
Best Position: CDM, CB
I couldn’t leave you without a Premier League option. Yes, he’s lost a bit of Pace, but that doesn’t matter nearly as much in FIFA 22 as it has in FIFAs past — especially when it allows you to add 11 points to your Defending stat and make significant gains in Dribbling and Passing. This card is basically N’Golo Kante… if Kante were taller, stronger, five times cheaper and had slightly-less-great links.
Even with the deduction, Onyeka’s Pace is still up at 82, which is more than quick enough for a defensive midfielder early on in a FIFA cycle. It also feels even quicker when you consider that he’s 6’0” and the Defending stats he gained from the trade-off mean that he’ll be in much better positions than his base card would get into. All of a sudden, that small drop in Pace becomes a whole lot more worth it. Onyeka is an absolutely dominant option, and his inclusion means you can safely use a deep-lying playmaker like Kevin De Bruyne without worrying about getting exposed defensively.