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Rivals is getting overhauled in EA FC 26, with new ways to play the popular Ultimate Team game mode confirmed ahead of the game's release.

Ahead of EA FC 26 's official release on Friday, September 26, EA Sports has been revealing all about the new game to get players more excited for the latest EA Sports FC instalment. One of the first bits of information put out by EA was a deep dive into EA FC 26 gameplay, which was quickly followed by deep dives into EA FC 26 Career Mode, EA FC 26 Clubs, and EA FC 26 Ultimate Team.

Ultimate Team is by far the biggest game mode in EA Sports FC, and it looks set to be that way once again in EA FC 26, with some big changes being made to Evolutions, Champions, and Rivals. The latter seemed to have the biggest changes of them all however, with some cool-looking features being introduced in the new game.

This is everything you need to know about the EA FC 26 Rivals overhaul.

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New EA FC 26 Rivals changes explained

EA's biggest focus ahead of EA FC 26 was to listen more to community-requested changes, and that seems to be the case with the Rivals updates. From more rewards for playing games to more Rivals-based challenges, these are all the new additions to EA FC 26 Rivals, as per EA's Ultimate Team pitch notes.

Bounties

Bounties are randomly triggered challenges that apply to your next Rivals match. Complete one Bounty, and you’ll earn rewards immediately, ranging from Rivals Points, Champions Qualification Points, Coins, Packs, Season XP, to even Rivals Stage Skips, allowing you to progress up the ladder faster.

These are some examples of Bounties that you might encounter while playing:

• Score the first goal
• Score the last goal
• Win by two or more
• Keep a clean sheet

Many Bounties can be completed even if you don’t go on to win the match, ensuring that you still have something to play for in each match. Bounty Duels are special Bounties that attempt to match you with opponents on the same challenge, like Score First, ensuring that only one player can walk away with the reward.

Limited Checkpoints

Limited Checkpoints are a new form of breakable checkpoint that tracks losses and enables relegation once broken. You’ll see how many losses remain when selecting the Limited Checkpoint, and the number of losses before it breaks can be different between each Checkpoint.

These Checkpoints are intended to help prevent players from getting stuck outside of their skill equilibrium for long periods of time and will reset at the beginning of each Rivals season. Limited Checkpoints also tell you how many games you can afford to lose before you are threatened with relegation.

You can now also get win streak bonuses in Rivals, where you can climb up to two stages and earn double Rivals points. Your opponent will also be told if you are on a win streak, vice versa.

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