The release of the Max. 87 Base Icon Upgrade SBC is a staple event in the early lifecycle of the Ultimate Team game mode, offering players a guaranteed though capped legendary player to bolster their squad. Here is a complete breakdown of this SBC, covering the requirements, cost, and the essential risk vs reward analysis.
The Max. 87 Base Icon Upgrade is an SBC that, upon completion, rewards players with one untradeable Base Icon player item rated 87 OVR or lower. This is a non pick pack, meaning you get one random Icon from the pool of players who have a Base Icon card at a rating of 87 or 86. These are all the icons available.
| OVR | Player Name | Position |
| 87 | Fernando Torres | ST |
| 87 | Gianfranco Zola | CAM |
| 87 | Frank Rijkaard | CDM/CB |
| 87 | Nemanja Vidić | CB |
| 87 | Davor Šuker | ST |
| 87 | John Barnes | LW |
| 87 | Frank Lampard | CM |
| 87 | Patrick Kluivert | ST |
| 87 | Robert Pirès | LM |
| 87 | Ian Wright | ST |
| 87 | Ian Rush | ST |
| 87 | Emmanuel Petit | CDM |
| 87 | Xabi Alonso | CDM |
| 86 | Gianluca Zambrotta | RB/LB |
| 87 | Claude Makélélé | CDM |
| 86 | Michael Essien | CDM |
| 86 | Emmanuel Petit | CDM |
| 86 | Sol Campbell | CB |
| 86 | Ashley Cole | LB |
| 86 | Michael Ballack | CM |
| 86 | Hernán Crespo | ST |
| 86 | Luis Hernández | ST |
| 86 | Juan Sebastián Verón | CM |
| 86 | Roy Keane | CM |
| 86 | Gennaro Gattuso | CDM |
| 86 | Henrik Larsson | ST |
| 86 | Cha Bum Kun | ST |
| 86 | Sissi | CAM |
The Max 87 Base Icon Upgrade SBC typically demands a significant investment of high rated fodder. You will need to submit a 85 rated, 86 rated and 87 rated squad. The 85 rated squad should cost around 44,000 coins to complete and requires at least one TOTW player for which you will receive a Jumbo Gold Pack. The 86 rated squad should cost 63,150 coins and you receive a Gold Players Pack for completing it. The 87 rated squad will cost you around 100,000 coins and you receive a Rare Mixed Players pack for completing it. In total it should cost you over 200,000 coins.
The nature of any guaranteed pack SBC is a gamble. Your success is determined by Players whose market value or in game performance significantly exceeds the SBC cost versus the potential losses Players who are priced below the SBC cost and may not be meta relevant. The worst part about these packs is that they are untradeable, if you get someone like Rush who is just unusable in game you cannot even sell him to recoup your coins.
The Max 87 Base Icon SBC presents a classic Ultimate Team dilemma. The barrier to entry is substantial, draining high rated players from your club that could be used on an SBC for a specific player such as Busquets SBC that is being lauded by many players. However a pull like Torres or Makelele could be game changing.
However if you are low on fodder or coins. The risk is too high that you will spend over 200,000 coins only to pull a player worth under 100,000, which is a major hit to your transfer budget. Save your high rated duplicates for a guaranteed, elite player SBC instead and prioritize the Busquets SBC over this SBC in my opinion.
