Intro
When starting out or looking to upgrade your teams on Sorare, the most important division in my opinion is the All Star Rare Division. The reason is simply that you can get threshold rewards and also a chance to win a card reward too.
Here are the ETH reward totals for 2022:
- 205 point threshold will offer $25 worth of ETH - 250 point threshold will offer $50 worth of ETH
It is tempting to just jump in and start buying cards especially as auctions are addictive! This can however lead to spending too much on players you don't need.
I will look to identify certain players I would suggest scouting. What is more important than the specific player is the type of player.
The main areas I look at are:
Scoring -average, high point, DNPs (are they starters)
Team - strength, league , upcoming fixtures, season length
Price - current price, last auction price,
With the World Cup on, the market prices have dropped for a lot of players not involved. This I have found to be potential best time to pick up guys you can use after the world cup and im a big advocate of planning ahead and buying when others may not be looking/sentiment is low.
Threshold Planning
I like to plan any buy I make on Sorare so that I dont a)overspend and b) end up with a lopsided squad eg has 5 defenders but no strikers!
For this exercise, I tried to put myself in the shoes of a new starter in the game with a budget of roughly $1000
I then scouted players in different positions. These are the players I will be going through in this series of blog posts for each position.
I was particularly looking at:
Price
L40 average
Risks in the future (ie are they starters/save in the position)
The overall aim was to get players who can consistently score >250 to hit the threshold.
I experimented with a number of different combinations of players from the above list
Price - total cost of 5 players (1 has to be keeper)
L40 -total scores of these players
GWs to parity - how many GWs it would take to reach the initial investment
Again, this is crude method which was I used to get a feel of the different available players.
It doesnt consider the potential card appreciation and resale value as it assumes the user will be wanting to build and compound/grow.
Tools
An excellent tool to use when experimenting with player is SorareBase which can be found here
Amongst a number of different tools available is the SO5 simulator where you can try different players and see what they have scored in the past/how often they have hit threshold or got rewards. An example is shown below:
Player Suggestions
I have previous written posts on threshold players:
See here for the first part of this series which looks at Goalkeepers.
See here for the first part of this series which looks at Defenders.
They are now out of date in terms of suggestions, however could give useful info on how to scout players.
Its also important to know the calendar and how many games each leagues play. Put simply, leagues with the most fixtures gives the most opportunities to gain threshold. If teams/players also play in supplementary tournaments (eg Europa League or ACL) then that is a huge bonus too.
Budget <$75
Name: Ryoto Aoki
Team: Sapporo
Position: Midfielder
League: J1 League
Price: $63
Av L15 Score: 52
Positives
Attacking midfield/forward player that can get decisive
Was the clubs top scorer and voted their MVP
Ended the season very well and cemented his position in the team
Risks
Season break until late February 2023
Sapporo do rotate a lot
Alternatives
Akimi Barada (Shonan)
Juan Alano (Gamba)
Mark O'Hara (St Mirren) - Scottish league starts soon after the world cup
Budget <$150
Name: Hayao Kawabe
Team: Grasshoppers
Position: Midfielder
League: Swiss Super League
Price: $117
Av L15 Score: 55
Positives
Attacking midfield that has the ability to score and assist
Starter for club that has started almost all games this season
Season resumes in mid Jan with 19 games still remaining
Scores a very impressive 53% > 60 points
Risks
Is on loan from Wolves and uncertain what happens next season
Alternatives
Daniel Wass (Brondby)
Sean Goss (Motherwell)
Kellyn Acosta (LAFC)
Budget <$200
Name: José Callejón
Team: Granada
Position: Forward
League: LaLiga Smartbank
Price: $199
Av L15 Score: 56
Positives
Starter for side & also on corners
League still has a lot of games with 34 still remaining this season. This gives alot of utility for SO5 team esp threshold
Team has a relatively high xG and top 5 strong teams in the league
Scores an impressive 35% > 60 points
Risks
Granada could get promoted (4th favourites at the moment) and if they do, it will be bad for their players in general as they will play much tougher opposition
At 35, Callejon is in the latter stages of this career. I personally dont worry too much about age rather care much more about value & ability for the player to get rewards now to pay for themselves.
Alternatives
Hiroaki Okuno (C.Osaka)
Sven Kums (Ghent) - in Europa Conference league too
Geoggry Haiemans (Mechelen)
Finish
Thanks for reading!
This is intended to provide info on how I scout players and the different aspects I look at. These players are all good picks but what is more important than these specific players is the thinking behind your decision and the research you do.
I like to plan in advance once I have targeted players, I will then either try to buy not or put onto my watchlist/favourites.
Another aspect I really concentrate on is Calendar planning. I like to buy in off season/when sentiment is low or identify GWs where an edge can be found eg midweek with only a few leagues playing. The post I made on this can be found on Patreon here
I am fantasy sports addict, in particular I follow J1 League football closely and provide lineup/strategy info. Click below for the J1 League Sorare Discord channel, you can keep up to date with the latest info and get other peoples opinion in the community!
My Sorare SO5 key metrics can be found here
