How to build a 5-star draft: the complete chemistry guide

In Draft Mode you get one shot: you pick a formation, a captain and eleven players from five cards per position, and that team plays a four-match tournament. Many people always take the card with the highest rating and are surprised when their 84-rated team goes out in the round of 16. The reason is almost always the same: chemistry.

What your team's stars measure

The stars next to your eleven don't depend on the rating alone. GolDraft calculates a team strength from three ingredients:

• The eleven's average rating, adjusted by position. A player in his natural position performs at 100%. In a compatible position (for example, a CM playing as a CDM) he loses 2 points, and in an unrelated position he loses 6.
• Total chemistry, from 0 to 33 points. Every point above 15 adds strength and every point below takes it away: going from 10 to 30 chemistry is like adding 4 rating points to the whole team.
• The bench. A full, good bench adds almost a full point; playing without substitutes costs you, because fatigue and injuries show during the tournament.

A strength of 87 gives you 5 stars. That is why an 82-rated eleven with 30 chemistry and a good bench can be stronger than an 85-rated eleven with 6 chemistry.

How chemistry is calculated, player by player

Each of your eleven players can contribute between 0 and 3 points. Three kinds of links with the rest of the team are added up:

• Same club: 1 point with one clubmate in the eleven, 2 points with two or more.
• Same nationality: 1 point with 2 compatriots, 2 points with 4 and 3 points with 6 or more.
• Same league: 1 point with 3 players from his league and 2 points with 5 or more.

The captain also gets one extra point. The maximum per player is 3, so the team's maximum chemistry is 33. The green dots under each card on the pitch show exactly that number: zero, one, two or three points.

The three strategies that work best

1. A national block

Six players from the same national team already give each of them 3 chemistry points, no matter which club they play for. With nations that have many good cards, such as France, Spain, England, Brazil or Argentina, it's the fastest way past 20 points.

2. A league block

If you fill the defence and midfield with players from the same league, each of them earns 2 points for that alone. The Premier League and LaLiga have the most players in GolDraft, so it's easy to find five of their cards among the options.

3. Club pairs

Two clubmates give each other 1 point; three clubmates, 2 points each. Combined with the league, a trio from the same club reaches 3 points per player on its own. It's ideal for central positions, where several cards from the big clubs tend to appear.

The captain: think ahead

The captain is chosen at the start from five random stars. It's tempting to take the highest rating, but think about which nation or league is easiest to repeat. A French captain from the Premier League opens two chemistry paths; a captain from a league with few cards leaves him on his own.

Common mistakes

• Playing players out of position. A full-back playing as a winger loses 6 points. It's almost never worth it.
• Leaving the bench empty. Seven substitutes rated 80 or more add real strength and give you changes in the live match.
• Looking only at the rating. Before choosing, check each card's flag, crest and league: that decides chemistry.

A practical example

Imagine a 4-3-3 with a French captain from an English club. In defence you pick two centre-backs and a full-back from the Premier League and a French full-back. In midfield, two French players and an English Premier League player. Up front, a Frenchman from LaLiga and two Premier League forwards. You have six French players (3 points each) and seven Premier League players (2 points for the league), and almost the whole eleven sits at 3 points. Even if the rating isn't the highest possible, the team's strength goes up several points.

With these ideas, it's normal to go from 10 chemistry to 25 or 30 while giving up almost no rating. Next time you build your team, before picking each card, ask yourself: who is he going to connect with?