Ezz Forum

The Daily Grind: SBCs, Packs, and Club Management

At this point in the RTG, the grind has become a rhythm-a daily routine where the goal is to maximize every opportunity to build your club, unlock powerful players FC 25 Coins, and prepare for the next big drop of content.

Daily Packs and SBCs
Each day, there are multiple avenues to rack up player cards, gold, and rewards. These include:

Daily Games Played Packs
Daily Login Packs
85 Combos (SBCs requiring players rated 85+)
83x14 Packs (packs requiring a squad of 14 players rated 83)
Pick 2 of 3 85+ Player Picks (player choice packs for flexible club building)
82x20 Repeatables (the backbone SBCs for steady club progress)

The plan is to hit as many of these as possible, strategically choosing which player picks to keep or discard depending on what will best help with your next SBC.

For example, I recently opted to pick two 85-rated players over a single 89-rated player (like the 89-rated Ødegaard). This might seem counterintuitive, but the two 85s can be used immediately to build another 82x20 SBC, keeping the grind continuous and the club stocked. That's the kind of decision-making that keeps the process fluid and sustainable.

Building a Stockpile of Team of the Week Players

One of the biggest breakthroughs for me was realizing how to leverage the endless stream of 82-83 rated players from SBCs into Team of the Week (TOTW) Packs. The grind yields so many 82s and 83s that I can pre-build tons of TOTW packs in the background, filling my club with valuable special cards.

This prepares me for daily SBCs that often require TOTW players without needing to hunt for them each time. It's about transforming the bulk fodder into useful assets.

By stacking these packs in advance, the game's demands become manageable rather than overwhelming. With pages of TOTW players ready, I can breeze through daily SBC requirements and focus on the fun part - team-building and gameplay.

Rush Mode and Squad Battles: The Background Work

While the grind of SBCs and packs goes on, I keep up momentum by playing Rush and Squad Battles in the background. Rush, in particular, is a bit of a mixed bag:

On the one hand, drop-in games can be quite toxic, with random teammates who don't always play cohesively.
On the other hand, every so often, you find a gem of a team that makes you wish you could stick with them forever.

Squad Updates: New Additions and Evo Cards

With all the pack openings and grind, the squad evolves gradually. A few key new players have found a home on my team:

Cho Aben at right back-a solid defensive addition.
Ao Tanaka at CDM-a reliable central midfielder to anchor the midfield.
Yan Kuto and Lauren James-the techy female players who bring flair and skill.
Wolfie at center back-a rock-solid defender to keep the backline sturdy.

One cool highlight was the Evo of Chio Augene, who I boosted up to a 94 rating with some great stats and play styles. He now can play CDM and feels like a major upgrade to the midfield options.

This evolving squad keeps the gameplay fresh and enjoyable, especially during those casual Rush or Squad Battles matches.

The Impact of Daily League Packs and TOTS

Every day brings new league packs and TOTS (Team of the Season) guarantees. Today featured the Premier League and EFL TOTS guaranteed packs. These are great because they offer high-rated players from some of the best leagues, potentially unlocking some powerful team options.

For instance, the EFL TOTS pack included AO Tanaka, who I already have, but the Prem TOTS guarantee gave me Anthony Robinson from Fulham. He's a fast, dribbling-focused left back, which is perfect to link up with Tanaka. He's also evoable, meaning he can be upgraded over time - an exciting prospect.

TOTS packs have been a mixed bag. I often find myself getting duplicates rather than fresh players, which can be frustrating, but it's a sign I'm starting to build a solid stable of these high-value cards. Plus, the duplicates can be used in trade-in packs in hopes of snagging rare players not in Ultimate TOTS.

Managing the SBC Storage and Club Space

One challenge of the grind is managing club space and SBC storage. After a full day of SBCs and pack openings, my SBC storage often reaches 90 out of 100 slots, which means I have to clear out bulk fodder to make room for new cards.

The solution? Convert low-rated players into TOTW packs, which then go into the club, freeing up space and adding valuable players. It's a cycle of constant management and preparation.

Market Trends: Rising Prices on Fodder Cards

Lately, I've noticed EA trying to raise the prices of fodder cards, especially 85, 86, 87, 88, and 89-rated players, by requiring exact ratings for some SBC exchanges. For example:

You need an exact rating of 85 for certain combos, which means you can't just substitute a 86 or 90 card.
This has slightly hiked the value of these cards in the transfer market.
While this can slow down the grind if you don't have the exact cards, it adds an extra layer of strategy to how you manage your club and choose which cards to use or keep.

The RTG Community: Sharing Tips and Experiences

If you've been grinding alongside me or on your own RTG journey, I'd love to hear your thoughts:

Have you tackled Kevin De Bruyne's SBC or maybe Thomas Müller's? Both are amazing but pricey options for ultimate teams.
What's your take on Modric's SBC? I'm leaning toward him as a great option for the RTG.
How are you managing your club space and SBC grind?
Have you been unlocking shape shifters this season? I'd love to see how you're incorporating them into your team.

Wrapping Up: The Road Ahead in FC 25

The grind is relentless but rewarding. By balancing daily SBCs, pack openings, Rush sessions, and careful club management, the RTG journey is full of exciting moments, new player unlocks, and tactical choices.

The team is shaping up nicely with a blend of elite players FIFA 25 Coins for sale, evo cards, and rising stars. As the Ultimate Hot Week rolls on, I'm keen to see what new content EA throws our way and how we can adapt to keep the grind fresh.

Welcome to the ultimate beginner-friendly guide for one of the most explosive and accessible league starter builds in Path of Exile. If you're diving into the game and looking for a reliable character that can carry you through the campaign and into early mapping without breaking the bank, this Mercenary build is exactly what you need POE currency.

This character focuses on a powerful synergy between Explosive Grenade, Siege Cascade, and Oil Grenade, combining massive AoE, fire-based damage, and strong debuffs to dominate both mobs and bosses. Best of all? It's entirely viable with no unique items and can be started from level one.

Why Play This Merc Build?

Several Mercenary abilities like Siege Cascade and Explosive Grenade received major buffs-nearly doubling their base damage. This alone puts Merc in a strong position for early progression, and this build capitalizes on that with an incredibly smooth leveling process and safe, consistent clears.

As a testament to its survivability, the creator of the build died only six times before reaching mapping, compared to over 50 deaths from friends using other setups. That kind of performance speaks for itself.

Core Skills Breakdown
Let's dive into the core of what makes this build tick:

1. Explosive Grenade (Main Skill)
   This is your bread-and-butter skill. It deals massive fire AoE damage and is used for most encounters.

Support Gems:
Scattershot: Fires multiple grenades simultaneously, increasing coverage.
Magnified Effect: Greatly boosts AoE radius, increasing clear speed.
Expedite: Reduces detonation time, making grenades explode quicker.
Defy: Makes attack damage with hits lucky when surrounded, meaning more consistent high damage.

2. Siege Cascade (Secondary AoE Clear)

Used when you encounter large packs. It launches projectiles at all enemies around you, causing wide explosions on impact.

Support Gems:
Primal Armament: Enhances area coverage.
Reach: Extends AoE range.
Fire Infusion: Converts more of your damage into fire, scaling with your primary damage type.

3. Oil Grenade (Debuff Utility)

A powerful utility skill that slows enemies, applies fire exposure, and creates burning ground when ignited.

Support Gems:
Encumbrance: Increases slow magnitude.
Despoiler: Increases the duration of ground effects by 50%.

Optional and Early-Level Skills

Galvanic Shards
An early-level filler before you get Siege Cascade. Still effective with the new patch.

Support Gems:
Pierce (or Fork, if available)
Lightning Infusion
Nimble Reload
Flash Grenade

Great for stunning enemies and applying blind. Especially helpful for bosses.

Support Gems:
Overpower: More stun buildup.
Maim: Slows enemies, synergizing well with Oil Grenade.
Cluster Grenade

A situational skill you can use when your main grenade is on cooldown. Fires a cluster of mini-grenades.

Support Gems:
Ingenuity: Reduces cooldown.
Fiery Death: Adds extra explosions.
Inspiration: Lowers mana cost.
Herald of Ash + Vitality
Herald of Ash: Adds fire DoT after kills-great for clearing.
Vitality: Passive life regen from spare Spirit.

Gear and Stat Priorities

This build is designed to function on scrap-tier gear, which means it's perfect for SSF (solo self-found) or economy league starts. Here's what to focus on:

Crossbow
Elemental Damage with Attacks: A must-have since all your main damage is elemental.
Added Fire Damage or High Phys Rolls
Life & Mana on Kill: Amazing QoL for sustaining through the campaign.

Armor
Stack Armor + Evasion gear wherever possible.
Max Life on all armor slots is a priority.
Resistances are key-fill gaps via rings, belt, and helmet.

Boots
Movement Speed (at least 20%)
Life Regen, Resistances, and Max Life

Helmet, Gloves, Chest
High defenses
Added Attributes like Dexterity or Strength
Resists and Life

Accessories
Rings: Added damage to attacks, life, resistances.
Amulet: All attributes, increased armor/life.
Belt: Strength, life regen, max life.

Charm
A Chaos Resistance Charm is used early to compensate for low Chaos res.Passive Tree and Ascendancy

You can run this build with any Mercenary ascendancy, but Witch Hunter offers excellent synergy early.

Witch Hunter Nodes Taken:
Culling Strike-Instantly kill low-health enemies.
Decimating Strike-Removes a chunk of health on hit.

Passive Tree Pathing Highlights:
1.Projectile Damage Cluster-Early leveling power.
2.Grenade Cooldown and AoE Nodes-Unlocks core build synergy.
3.Crossbow Damage Nodes-Synergizes with all grenade-based skills.
4.Movement Speed Cluster-Helps with mapping speed.
5.Grenade Detonation Time Nodes-Makes combat feel snappy.
6.AoE and Elemental Penetration Nodes-Boosts clear and single-target damage.
7.Defense Clusters-Grab Armor and Evasion nodes when survivability dips.
8.Culling Strike Threshold-Kill enemies earlier and more efficiently.

Final Thoughts

This Explosive Grenade Mercenary Build is one of the smoothest ways to kick off your journey in Path of Exile. With huge AoE explosions, flexible debuffs POE chaos orbs for sale, and reliable bossing tools, you're covered for both campaign and early mapping. It's ideal for casual players and league starters alike.

As Diablo 4's Season 9 emerges from its PTR (Public Test Realm) phase and nears full release, players across the board are asking the same question Diablo IV gold: Is this the moment Diablo 4 finally finds its stride, or are we in for another round of recycled systems and lukewarm innovations?

Having played through every season so far-and with a critical eye sharpened by years of Diablo content-the answer isn't entirely straightforward. On one hand, there's genuine progress in areas that have long needed attention. On the other, Season 9 still carries familiar baggage: power reuse, underwhelming changes, and a sense that Blizzard is treading water until the next big expansion.

Let's break it down: the good, the bad, and what Season 9 tells us about Diablo 4's future.

Escalation Dungeons: The Endgame Finally Evolves

The most significant-and most welcome-addition in Season 9 is the Escalation Dungeon system. For a long time, Nightmare Dungeons have felt stagnant. Their scaling capped out too early, they lacked significant challenge, and they offered little incentive to keep pushing beyond Torment IV. Escalation Dungeons aim to change that.

Think of these as tiered, dynamic endgame content where you progressively add affixes to a dungeon, increasing difficulty while reaping better rewards. At key points during a run, players can escalate the challenge by tacking on new modifiers-resulting in a dungeon that changes mid-run and continues ramping up the stakes.

This concept mirrors the intensity and structure of Infernal Hordes, but with a more strategic twist. You're not just battling wave after wave-you're choosing to escalate, customizing your dungeon's difficulty curve. And at the summit? A proper boss fight. Players will face Astaroth, the terrifying dog-rider boss from the campaign, in what many consider one of Diablo 4's most cinematic encounters. Bringing him back as an endgame capstone is a smart move and one that finally breathes life into what had become an anemic bossing system.

There's also the addition of Heradric Strongrooms-optional challenge rooms that can appear inside these Escalation Dungeons. These rooms further deepen the loop, offering bonus rewards and decision-making layers mid-dungeon. In essence, they shake up Diablo 4's notoriously linear endgame with more complexity, more risk, and more fun.

Verdict: Huge win for endgame longevity.

The Power System: More of the Same, Just Rearranged

Now for the letdown.

Season 9's central mechanical hook-the new Power System-feels like yet another repackaging of old ideas. It's not that the system doesn't work; it's just that we've seen it all before. Season after season, Diablo 4 has leaned hard on the gimmick of new powers as its headline seasonal content. From Vampiric Powers to Malignant Hearts, the naming might change, but the gameplay doesn't evolve much.

In Season 9, you build powers by choosing a core effect, applying a modifier, and then assigning them to specific skills. On paper, this is flexible and deep-it allows theorycrafters and build-makers to do some cool, creative things. For example, you can make an ability pull enemies in or automatically trigger another spell. This system caters beautifully to those who enjoy sandbox-style customization.

But for most players-especially casual ones who copy meta builds-the Power System feels lifeless. Powers lack visual impact, don't change how the game feels, and most builds can barely tell the difference. It's not exciting. It's not cinematic. And in a game that thrives on spectacle, that's a real issue.

Worse, there's a creeping sense of laziness here. Blizzard appears to be banking on small seasonal modifiers as their go-to formula without evolving them meaningfully. While there's marginally more depth in Season 9's powers, the core experience remains the same-and it's growing stale.

Verdict: Functional but uninspired.

Overall Season Feel: Incremental Progress, Not Innovation

Let's be brutally honest. Diablo 4 is not a radically different game in Season 9 than it was in Season 8-or even Season 6, for that matter. The structure is the same: grind seasonal powers, clear dungeons, chase loot, and defeat bosses. The core gameplay loop hasn't shifted significantly. The main difference is that the edges are more polished.

Yes, Season 9 improves the game. Escalation Dungeons alone make the late-game far more replayable. If you haven't played since launch or have taken a long break, this season will feel better paced, better structured, and more rewarding than what you remember.

But if you've played every season? You'll notice how little the meta has changed. The top builds from Season 6 and Season 7 are still largely viable. Blizzard hasn't dramatically shaken up itemization or class balance, and with only one or two new uniques per class, it's hard to justify calling this a fresh start.There's a lack of risk-taking.

In Path of Exile, for example, a new league might introduce dozens of new skills, overhaul the Atlas, or rework hundreds of uniques. In Diablo 4, we get a couple new powers and a slight endgame tweak. The contrast in ambition is impossible to ignore.

Verdict: Better, but not bold.

Is It Worth Returning in Season 9?

That depends on where you're coming from:

If you've been on a long break: Absolutely. Diablo 4 is in its most polished state yet, and Season 9's additions meaningfully enrich the endgame experience.

If you play every season: Probably not. Unless you're invested in testing new builds.

If you're a build crafter: The new Power System will give you something to tinker with. You'll find some joy in bending spells to your will. But don't expect a revolution.

Ultimately, Diablo 4 Season 9 feels like a holding pattern. A way to keep the community engaged and the seasonal cadence alive while Blizzard works behind the scenes on the real heavy-hitter: the next paid expansion. That's when you can expect a new class, a new region, a full loot refresh, and more transformative systems.

Until then, Season 9 is a solid-but safe-step forward.

Final Thoughts

In many ways, Diablo 4 Season 9 reflects the duality at the heart of Blizzard's ARPG. On one hand, it's a smoother, better game than it was at launch. The new Escalation Dungeons and Heradric Strongrooms are a meaningful shake-up to stale endgame activities. They show that Blizzard can evolve the gameplay experience when they want to.

On the other hand, the reused Power System, underwhelming balance changes, and predictable seasonal loop show that Diablo 4 is still playing it safe. For a live-service game meant to keep players hooked year-round, that's a dangerous game to play cheap Diablo 4 gold.

As we wait for the next expansion-where the real shake-up likely lies-it's fair to enjoy what Season 9 offers while also acknowledging its limits.

Season 9 is a win. But it's not a turning point.