EA Sports FC 24 gets Ultimate Birthday cards to celebrate 15 years of massively OTT Messi pack pull reactions

Good news, people who distinctly remember having had at least one football-shaped birthday cake as a child - EA Sports FC 24’s getting a bunch of new cards in celebration of the series Ultimate Team mode having been a thing for 15 whole years.

Yes, after blessing us with the return of its freaky red and blue non-humans in order to demonstrate some of the changes coming in FC 24’s big spring update, EA’s well and truly trying to make up for some of the issues and problems folks have had with the game in recent months. Or maybe it’s just happy about having made lots of people lose their voices over the years.

“You're all officially invited,” the company declared its announcement of a fresh Ultimate Team promotion dubbed “Ultimate Birthday” - because, as you might have gleaned, it’s designed to celebrate the game mode hitting 15 years old. Yup, it was first introduced back in FIFA 09, a game that I can’t quite remember whether Newcastle were in the Premier League or the Championship for. Knowing our luck, probably the latter.

The first team of fresh cards that’ll be arriving as part of this big birthday bash is already out there and, as you can see below, it’s looking pretty good. There’s a nice mix of older players your dad’s probably heard of, young guns your nephew probably likes, and female players that’d be cool to introduce your niece to. And hey, it’s got Messi in it, you like him, right?

Anyway, now that’s out of the way, it’s time to properly celebrate Ultimate Team’s legacy by highlighting some of the totally justified and occasionally genuinely funny reactions its packs have generated in the youth of our and other nations over the years. Especially since some of them probably wasted their student loans on virtual versions of actual people that become totally worthless as soon as the next game comes along.

The main one I want you to remember is this one from FIFA 13 - where KSI packs a TOTY Iniesta and casually removes his trousers while screaming - because I think all of the others are just kind of pale imitations of it. Just watch it, man. All that noise, definitely totally justified and appropriate for the occasion.

Enjoy that? Good, but you might not want to go through the entirety of his retro FIFA stuff, as some of the jokes might not have aged all that well, even if we all love an unexpected glitch.

Anyway, Ultimate Birthday team one is expected to start landing in packs today, while a second team should be incoming this time next week.

Also, if you’re hopping back into EA Sports FC 24’s Ultimate Team for the first time in a while, make sure to check out our regularly updated guide to the best cheap top-notch players to use for SBCs.