The Madden cycle is upon us! And we have a lot to discuss! First, TEAM REVEAL WILL BE STREAMED TONIGHT at 8pm EST!
Leading the stream will be a recap of this article, and then we will reveal the teams. If you miss it, there will be a VOD and YouTube video to watch.
Let’s get down to business and discuss a few league things.
Expected Start Date
Assuming there’s no game breaking bugs, issues with franchise, etc. The anticipated start date for the league will be 10 days from now, August 24. That being said, there may be a slight delay should any issues arise.
Introduction of Sim Seasons
With no exportable CFB25 draft classes, we decided to test something out for Madden this cycle. In an effort to focus on a longer period of team building, seeing rookies develop, and cap management becoming a skill gap, we will be simming seasons 3,5,8 with a goal of 9-10 seasons of madden.
- Simming of seasons should last roughly a 1.5-2 weeks in real life time. Remember this will include 2 drafts, 2 FA periods, AND playoffs.
- Rough outline
- Day 1- S2 Draft
- Day 2- Training Camp/Cuts
- Day 3- Weeks 1- trade deadline
- Day 4 – Deadline – end of regular season
- Day 5-8 Playoffs (THESE WILL BE PLAYED!)
- Day 9 _ Super Bowl vance to resign
- Day 10-11 Free agency
- Day 12 – Free agency
- Day 13 Draft
- Day 14 Training Camp/Cuts
- Day 15 Start of season 3.
- Trades will be allowed during this period.
- Playoff games will be played, we hope this allows non-traditional playoff matchups and users to have a chance to compete for championships.
Hot Routes
There are 5 eligible receivers on every play. You can change the assignment of 3 of them on a given play. This includes blocking. This is one more than what’s allowed in CFB. and is our attempt to open the game up.
DO NOT SPAM THIS EVERY PLAY.
Custom Playbooks
Per EA, saved custom audibles are implemented, or will be implemented. So we will continue on with our not allowing custom playbooks for OFFENSE.
Note: this is a consistent pain point. We get it, but behind the scenes the number 1 factor to helping limit the amount of cheese chaos is forcing people to be strategic with their book. We have already had a situation where an egregious custom was used in college football league. It’s just not our style here.
Abilities
The AP system is gone, no longer do you need a mathematics degree to avoid a rule break. That said, we are looking at 2 major things for abilities:
- Potentially removing traditional OP abilities (throwing velo, guaranteed wins) BUT we are gonna give M25 a chance to be its own game. They said they tuned it, so we will test.
- For ability changing, we are labbing a tier system. where you can choose what abilities your player has based on a) how many ability slots they have and b) their overall.
and example of that looks like, a WR that is 96 overall has 3 slots. for slot one he can choose an ability that’s tied to 85 ovr and below, slot two can have any ability that’s eligible for 90 and below, and slot 3 is any remaining ability.
This allows you to not have to deal with players having shitty abilities but also, not being overpowered freaks.
Point is, this is a heavy focus point for the CMs and we are tracking it.
4th Down Rules
These will mirror the college rules of:
- Anytime its 4th and 4 or less past your own 45.
- Any “and goal” scenario regardless of yardage.
- You are losing in the 4th quarter
- You are winning late in the 4th quarter and conversion would lead to a “game clinching” situation.
Sub LB
We have made slight adjustments to what safeties can come down and play sub LB. They must meet one of the following:
- 213+ lbs
- 210+ lbs and Run Stopper as primary scheme
OL Dev Boosts
Seeing how this doesn’t occur until after season 1, we will be monitoring dev stories and upgrades of offensive lineman. Should they not be adequate, we will restore the system Pest used in the past to randomly award upgrades so OL dev matches DL dev throughout the cycle.
Subbing in Backups
Traditionally we have had users sub in backups when up 28+ or more in the second half. this year that number has been upgraded to 30, and applies at the start of the 4th quarter.
As always, treat league mates with respect, do not run up the score, and if your opponent concedes in discord via DM, both teams should begin to chew clock.
Rules
As always, familiarize yourself with the rules page after the league officially starts as that is your source for all info.
