The Master League adventures thread

[Billy Jov]

Suggestions for Clubs to start a new save today?

for which pes game?

 

[Kopite1990]

Hi All 👍🏻

After a bit of a hiatus following my long term PES United save I have finally got the bug for a Master League journey again and find myself turning back to PES2021. I could not quite get into my Shonan Bellmare save, so after just 1 season I have decided to pause that and move on to something a bit more exciting.

I noticed that Santos had recently been relegated to Serie B for the first time in their history and this seemed like the perfect save to revive a giant of Brazilian/South American football. They also have a licensed stadium in PES2021 too, which was a little added bonus!

I have moved some of the teams around to try and make the league as up to date as possible. I have also completely changed the Santos squad and made a customised team in order to make things a bit more challenging (Santos had a pretty decent team in PES2021 due to being in Serie A at the time). I have added in a mix of lower rated younger players and older players who will quickly decline. With it being a Brazilian team, I also had to include the Master League legend that is Castolo!



The first transfer window option was switched off so we headed into the season with the squad that we started with. The format of the Brazilian calendar in PES means that the Brazilian Cup plays out prior to the league season starting.

The ties are played over two legs and to be honest I had pretty low expectations for our run in the competition. The main aim this season would be promotion back to Serie A at the first attempt. However, we took it game by game and incredibly defeated some top Serie A sides to reach the final. We beat Internacional and Grêmio along the way.

As a result, we headed into a final against Flamengo. The final is also played over two legs which meant we could play a bit more cautiously and wait for a chance to score. We played the away leg first and managed to score twice, gaining a 2-1 victory.

Flamengo started the second leg really well and it was backs against the wall for most of the first half. However, we managed to break away and score against the run of play. We made it 2-0 in the second half before Flamengo scored a late consolation goal. A fantastic achievement and one that was completely unexpected, we have Copa Libertadores football to look forward to in our second season!



The league kicked off after the cup and we made a bit of a sketchy start with 3 consecutive draws, however after the midway point of the season this is the current state of play:



An immediate return to Serie A looks increasingly likely and hopefully we can go up as champions 🤞🏼

 

[millossobek]

@Kopite1990 You're doing great with Santos! You know, I've always liked playing in the Brasileirao, and the format I actually like as well. Get all the Cup matches done first, and then start the Brasileirao, it's pretty convenient in terms of shuffling your lineup, you don't have to juggle so many tired players in the middle of the season.

A Copa do Brasil win and flying in Serie B! That's awesome. That's cool you are including Castolo as well in your save, I have him in my Brazilian story too, and he's been great for me so far (I am in my third season and playing Serie A). Coincidentally, my second star's name is Leandro! (although he is not a CF like in your story, but an invented AMF heheh)..

Maybe I could make a suggestion: If you want, you could try to bring back an aging Neymar if you are promoted! He has declared many times that he wants to finish his career with Santos.. although I'm not sure if you like him or not. I actually thought he was a very exciting player when he started out, still remember the 2011 Libertadores very well!

 

[Kopite1990]

@Kopite1990 You're doing great with Santos! You know, I've always liked playing in the Brasileirao, and the format I actually like as well. Get all the Cup matches done first, and then start the Brasileirao, it's pretty convenient in terms of shuffling your lineup, you don't have to juggle so many tired players in the middle of the season.

A Copa do Brasil win and flying in Serie B! That's awesome. That's cool you are including Castolo as well in your save, I have him in my Brazilian story too, and he's been great for me so far (I am in my third season and playing Serie A). Coincidentally, my second star's name is Leandro! (although he is not a CF like in your story, but an invented AMF heheh)..

Maybe I could make a suggestion: If you want, you could try to bring back an aging Neymar if you are promoted! He has declared many times that he wants to finish his career with Santos.. although I'm not sure if you like him or not. I actually thought he was a very exciting player when he started out, still remember the 2013 Libertadores very well!

Cheers Millos! I love the Neymar idea, not a huge fan of him IRL but as you say it would definitely be a great way to incorporate him into my save. I am planning on this being quite a long term one, so hopefully I can tempt him as he approaches retirement.

I managed a few decent sessions over the weekend and should have an end of season 1 update ready soon 👍🏻

 

[millossobek]

@Kopite1990



He was truly the definition of a "magical youngster".. Really loved to see him play at the Brasileirao and Libertadores, I remember there was a huge air of excitement and promise in his South American years. Perhaps you could restore some of his magic. Looking forward to your update!

 

[Kopite1990]

@Kopite1990



He was truly the definition of a "magical youngster".. Really loved to see him play at the Brasileirao and Libertadores, I remember there was a huge air of excitement and promise in his South American years. Perhaps you could restore some of his magic. Looking forward to your update!

Wow! Some incredible goals and skill in that clip @millossobek. His time at Santos was actually a lot longer than I remembered. I thought he had a breakthrough season and then moved to Barca quite quickly, but I have just looked and he actually played over 200 games for Santos.

I am guessing he is still adored there, but you look at his career now and I wonder if he ever reached his full potential?

Anyway, maybe he can come back and recreate some of his magic in my save 🏟️

 

[millossobek]

Wow! Some incredible goals and skill in that clip @millossobek. His time at Santos was actually a lot longer than I remembered. I thought he had a breakthrough season and then moved to Barca quite quickly, but I have just looked and he actually played over 200 games for Santos.

I am guessing he is still adored there, but you look at his career now and I wonder if he ever reached his full potential?

Anyway, maybe he can come back and recreate some of his magic in my save 🏟️

Great question bro. I would say.. maybe not!

I mean he's had a great career, scoring hundreds of goals for Barca, PSG, and the National Team, but I expected more of him. I mean, watching him those 5 years at Santos, I just thought to myself.. This player is so good. Carrying Santos to victory in the 2011 Libertadores final against continental giants Peñarol (while only 19), scoring a goal in the final vs Peñarol, winning Copa Do Brasil as well and Recopa Sudamericana.. I was expecting even more. Unfortunately he probably became better known for his diving and off-the-pitch controversies (not excusing those, lol) than his skills in some circles, but as a youngster, he was really exciting, like Mati Fernandez in 2008. Maybe in your save, he recaptures that spirit (and stops diving ahahaha)! In anycase, to me, he was the last completely "magical South American youngster" that I saw, maybe the last of the Jogo Bonitos.

 

[Kopite1990]

Season 1 draws to a close and it is an immediate return to Serie A for Santos as we are crowned Serie B champions.



We won the league quite comfortably in the end after a bit of a slow start where we notched up a few draws. However, once the team spirit grew and we started picking up some wins there was no stopping us really.

We fell victim to the usual season 1 ‘Poaching Alert’ (I despise this feature in Master League but it is what it is). Unfortunately, Benfica triggered the release clause for our experienced RB - Para. Ultimately, it worked in our favour as we were able to strengthen the squad with a solid replacement in Mailton. We also snapped up Matheus Fernandes on a free transfer, he really made a difference for us in the second half of the season and scored 9 goals as we cruised to the title. Castolo and Leandro had a solid season up front, scoring a hatful of goals between them. The back 4 was immense as we ended the season with just 6 goals conceded in the league.



Joining us in Serie A next season will be Sport Recife, Goias and Ceará.

Flamengo look like the team to beat in Serie A. They stormed to the title and won it quite comfortably, notching up 90+ points. Dropping into Serie B are America Mineiro, Vasco, Cuiabá and Juventude.



Next season promises to be a really exciting one as we compete to stay in Serie A and re-establish ourselves as a top flight side. We also have a Copa Libertadores campaign to look forward to following our Copa do Brasil triumph!

 

[Kopite1990]

Annoyingly, I have just started my second season and realised I forgot to delete an option file which I had added for MLS Teams to replace the generic PLA Teams.

As a result, a lot of the MLS Teams have ended up in the Copa Libertadores 🤦🏻‍♂️ I really don’t want to start the save again but does anyone know if it is possible to delete or overwrite an option file mid-ML save please?

If there’s no straightforward solution then I will just have to live with a bit of a skewed format!

 

[millossobek]

Annoyingly, I have just started my second season and realised I forgot to delete an option file which I had added for MLS Teams to replace the generic PLA Teams.

As a result, a lot of the MLS Teams have ended up in the Copa Libertadores 🤦🏻‍♂️ I really don’t want to start the save again but does anyone know if it is possible to delete or overwrite an option file mid-ML save please?

If there’s no straightforward solution then I will just have to live with a bit of a skewed format!

I had this issue in PES 2017.. I found a patch which solved it, but then my second season crashed. (I don't know if it was due to this specific mod, or some other one.. since I had tons of mods installed).. What I would probably do bro is.. try to find a patch with South American teams, (I used to use one called Latin Patch for PES 2021, but now I am using a heavily edited option file with editemospes as base) and simulate all the games in your first season, so that the Win-Lose-Draw coincides with your original season.

Here's what I mean:
Let's say you played a match which finished Santos 2-1 Corinthians in real life.
In the simulated season, I would simulate that match until it shows a Santos win (doesn't have to be the same score, it could be 1-0, 3-1, whatever), just making sure that you get the win.
Same goes for draws and losses..

And then, you finish the season with the SAME record as your first season, even if goal differentials are different. (League standings might be different as well)..

Anyway, that's what I would do bro.. Sorry to hear that, I've been there before and it's unfortunate! Let me know if you need any tips.

 

[Kopite1990]

I had this issue in PES 2017.. I found a patch which solved it, but then my second season crashed. (I don't know if it was due to this specific mod, or some other one.. since I had tons of mods installed).. What I would probably do bro is.. try to find a patch with South American teams, (I used to use one called Latin Patch for PES 2021, but now I am using a heavily edited option file with editemospes as base) and simulate all the games in your first season, so that the Win-Lose-Draw coincides with your original season.

Here's what I mean:
Let's say you played a match which finished Santos 2-1 Corinthians in real life.
In the simulated season, I would simulate that match until it shows a Santos win (doesn't have to be the same score, it could be 1-0, 3-1, whatever), just making sure that you get the win.
Same goes for draws and losses..

And then, you finish the season with the SAME record as your first season, even if goal differentials are different. (League standings might be different as well)..

Anyway, that's what I would do bro.. Sorry to hear that, I've been there before and it's unfortunate! Let me know if you need any tips.

Thanks for your help and advice Millos - Much appreciated!

I have had another think about it and I am going to stick with it moving forward. There are only 8 MLS Teams in the Libertadores, so the majority of the teams are South American still. Plus, looking at the group stage so far it looks like a lot of them will not progress to the last 16. So once the knockout phase kicks off it should all look okay!

The thought of starting the save again and losing my stats/records would really demotivate me to start another save. Lesson learned for next time though 🤦🏻‍♂️

 

[millossobek]

@Kopite1990 For some strange reason, I totally forgot to comment on your story, dude! Congratulations on gaining promotion to Brasileirao A! Man, Flamengo were a beast (and still are) in 2021, with Gabigol (aka Gabriel Barbosa) playing out of his mind! Don't overlook Palmeiras though, they were really close to their Libertadores title run IRL! Anyway, back to your team: Much deserved promotion for Santos, a historical Brazilian Giant and back to their rightful place in First Division! Love to see Castolo doing well and it really seems like for all your forwards' exploits, it was your back 4 who shined the most! On a different note, I also bet Vasco Da Gama's relegation was tough for their fans.. Man, Brazil's promotion/relegation system is brutal!

 

[Kopite1990]

@Kopite1990 For some strange reason, I totally forgot to comment on your story, dude! Congratulations on gaining promotion to Brasileirao A! Man, Flamengo were a beast (and still are) in 2021, with Gabigol (aka Gabriel Barbosa) playing out of his mind! Don't overlook Palmeiras though, they were really close to their Libertadores title run IRL! Anyway, back to your team: Much deserved promotion for Santos, a historical Brazilian Giant and back to their rightful place in First Division! Love to see Castolo doing well and it really seems like for all your forwards' exploits, it was your back 4 who shined the most! On a different note, I also bet Vasco Da Gama's relegation was tough for their fans.. Man, Brazil's promotion/relegation system is brutal!

No worries mate! I can certainly testify to Flamengo being a beast on this game - I will give a season 2 update shortly but as a quick spoiler they are running away with the league at the moment. Barbosa tore us apart when we played them too.

I managed to find a work around for my option file issue - I imported an option file for the Ecuador Liga Pro. I only imported the kits and logos, but then had to manually change the players names to generic South American names in order to override the MLS option file. It pretty much wiped out my gaming sessions over the weekend but at least I now have a realistic Copa Libertadores without having to restart the save!

Vasco seem to be struggling in Serie B now too, you are right in that the 4 up/4 down relegation system adds a lot more jeopardy to the season!

We are doing well and holding our own though, I’ll post a proper update shortly 👍🏻

 

[millossobek]

Guys, on a somewhat unrelated note, wanted to ask all of you who play ML..

Do any of you play with "Master League restrictions"? I've found that in PES, adding restrictions to players transfers can sometimes be a pretty cool way to spice things up in ML adventures and add an extra challenge to the campaigns.

Here are some restrictions I use:
- Try to follow the country's transfer rules, when practical. For example, if I am playing in the Bundesliga, I try to have the minimum of 12 German players on the team.
- Usually not sign players that are higher rated than my highest rated player. If they progress beyond that, great, but at the moment of signing I try to have them equal or lesser than my best player.
- Limit my Free Agent signings to one per transfer window. This might seem a little unrealistic, because IRL, many Free Agents are available, but I've found that it helps to build teams a bit slower.
- Try to keep transfers more realistic in terms of geography. For example, if I am playing in a South American League, try not to sign too many Asian players (unless there's a history of this happening more often, for example, in the Peruvian League there have been some Japanese players).

Again, this is only a personal preference (which I don't apply in every ML campaign), but I have found that they can be pretty fun.

 

[Juventino32]

@millossobek , I do not play with restrictions but I find the concept pretty cool.
I'll definitely try it out for my next save ML ! Still busy with my Wakame ML but I've recently spent more time in editing than actually playing...

 

[Silverdome94]

@millossobek Definitely. Transfers have to be realistic or they can be game-breaking. Honestly, it's why I prefer to not play Master Leagues, and have stuck with seasons with the original squads.

One of the best real-life examples of an actual transfer happening that seemed like a FIFA/FM/PES move was Jordan Henderson signing for Ajax. If that happened in-game, I would have reset or used the editor 😄

 

[slamsoze]

Thanks for your help and advice Millos - Much appreciated!

I have had another think about it and I am going to stick with it moving forward. There are only 8 MLS Teams in the Libertadores, so the majority of the teams are South American still. Plus, looking at the group stage so far it looks like a lot of them will not progress to the last 16. So once the knockout phase kicks off it should all look okay!

The thought of starting the save again and losing my stats/records would really demotivate me to start another save. Lesson learned for next time though 🤦🏻‍♂️

That was the reason in PES 2021 that I imported only kits and logos for the LATAM and PLA leagues and I edited all the playera manually. Still have to edit though 😂.

Since I like Mexican clubs a lot, and some MLS clubs, I built the PLA with 16 Mexican Clubs and 4 MLS clubs and it is a Liga Mix now instead of MX, a mix of continental America clubs.

Soy Libertadores has a much nonCONMEBOL clubs as the PLA allows to qualify.

 

[Kopite1990]

That was the reason in PES 2021 that I imported only kits and logos for the LATAM and PLA leagues and I edited all the playera manually. Still have to edit though 😂.

Since I like Mexican clubs a lot, and some MLS clubs, I built the PLA with 16 Mexican Clubs and 4 MLS clubs and it is a Liga Mix now instead of MX, a mix of continental America clubs.

Soy Libertadores has a much nonCONMEBOL clubs as the PLA allows to qualify.

I feel your pain mate, it took me a good 3-4 hours over the weekend to manually edit the players but at least it gave me the end result 👍🏻

The Liga MX/MLS combo sounds like a great idea though. I might try something like that in future 👍🏻

 

[Kopite1990]

Guys, on a somewhat unrelated note, wanted to ask all of you who play ML..

Do any of you play with "Master League restrictions"? I've found that in PES, adding restrictions to players transfers can sometimes be a pretty cool way to spice things up in ML adventures and add an extra challenge to the campaigns.

Here are some restrictions I use:
- Try to follow the country's transfer rules, when practical. For example, if I am playing in the Bundesliga, I try to have the minimum of 12 German players on the team.
- Usually not sign players that are higher rated than my highest rated player. If they progress beyond that, great, but at the moment of signing I try to have them equal or lesser than my best player.
- Limit my Free Agent signings to one per transfer window. This might seem a little unrealistic, because IRL, many Free Agents are available, but I've found that it helps to build teams a bit slower.
- Try to keep transfers more realistic in terms of geography. For example, if I am playing in a South American League, try not to sign too many Asian players (unless there's a history of this happening more often, for example, in the Peruvian League there have been some Japanese players).

Again, this is only a personal preference (which I don't apply in every ML campaign), but I have found that they can be pretty fun.

Same as others for me too 👍🏻

I try to limit free agents as it can be very easy to just build your squad up quickly on the cheap.

Also, I try to keep outgoing transfers pretty realistic in order to add to the challenge. For example in my Santos save, if a European club offered good money for one of my star players then I would sell them as this fits in with the South American approach IRL.

 

[millossobek]

I built the PLA with 16 Mexican Clubs

Interesting fact: Mexican teams participated in Libertadores IRL, from 1998 to 2016, with 3 teams reaching the final during that span:

2001: Boca Juniors won against Cruz Azul, PK's
2010: Inter of Brazil won against Chivas de Guadalajara
2015: River Plate won against Tigres UANL (@Madmac79 This was the Libertadores where River's Carlos Sánchez really shined! in fact that River team had more Uruguayans like Mayada)

Sometimes I like to include Mexican teams in my PES Libertadores, either in Master League or as a Standalone Cup.

 

[Sany023]

Since I like Mexican clubs a lot ...

SFOT
May be PES 6 Mexican League 2007 will be interesting for you.

 

[slamsoze]

SFOT
May be PES 6 Mexican League 2007 will be interesting for you.

I am always interested in those patches, i think i have an AIO patch for PES 6 for Brasileirao+Serie B and one for Liga Chilena. For the recent years, i am just preserving them in an extrenal Hard Disc, cause my laptop is 10 years old by now. Once i get a new PC in the comming years, i will dive deep again. For the moment i stay with PS4.

 

[Kopite1990]

Santos - Season 2 Update

We are just under the halfway stage in season 2 and we have adapted pretty well to life back in Serie A.

We had a tricky transfer window as I forgot to adjust the budget settings in my first season. As a result we were left with a pretty decent transfer budget but hardly any salary budget. We were only able to add 3 signings to what was an already pretty thin squad. In terms of players in, we signed:

C. Devenish (CB)
A. Angulo (LB)
M. Cuadra (CF - on loan from Racing Club)

I don’t normally utilise loan signings in PES but our budget constraints meant that we had to add some quality without breaking the bank. With Copa Libertadores football to juggle the plan was to get through to the mid-season transfer window with our head above water and then hopefully build up some funds to add more quality.

Unfortunately we were unable to successfully defend our Copa do Brasil title. We enjoyed some early round victories against Vitoria and Athletico Paranaense but unfortunately we succumbed to a narrow two-legged defeat against Red Bull Bragantino.



Anyway, our main priority this season was to consolidate our position in Serie A and stay in the league. We started off brilliantly, with 6 straight wins. Our form has been a little bit more inconsistent since, the goals have dried up and we have drawn a few games. The games are coming thick and fast, with such a small squad the drop in quality is noticeable when we have to rotate.



Victims of our own success, we also have to juggle Copa Libertadores football in our first season back in the top flight. I had zero expectations and any progress made would be seen as a bonus. We were drawn in a pretty tough group with Boca Juniors, S.C. Barcelona and C.D. Cuenca. However, with the pressure being off we cruised the group and even managed a famous win at La Bombanera 🙌🏻 …we are through to the last 16!







We took the opportunity to strengthen our squad in the mid-season window, signing Brazilian forward Caio Lucas from UAE club Sharjah. We managed to build up some decent funds through our participation in the Copa Libertadores and the squad looks a bit more balanced now for the rest of the season with some added quality:



Hopefully we can stay in the pack during the second half of the season, qualification for Copa Libertadores football in our first season back would be great and who knows how far we can go in the competition this season!

 

[Hayes]

@Kopite1990



He was truly the definition of a "magical youngster".. Really loved to see him play at the Brasileirao and Libertadores, I remember there was a huge air of excitement and promise in his South American years. Perhaps you could restore some of his magic. Looking forward to your update!

Anyone can say about the man of his on & off the pitch issue but you can't deny he's got a talent. In earlier 2010s when brazilian superstar like Kaka, R10, R9 started to get old, this kid was rising. We've seen some brazillian wonder kid and i think he's one of them that delivered so quickly at such a young age. It's such a shame injuries robbed this man career otherwise he would be the next messi. Vini & Rodrygo were great but their numbers flattened compare to Neymar. I think if he went to europe at messi's age his career would be much longer ( you know with all them european juices & medicine, lol) It's crazy he's in 30s but already had almost 500 career goals

 

[rockstrongo]

Don't know why I got so happy over this goal, maybe because I haven't played a football game in a long time, let alone PES.
From my Roma ML season 1 on pes 2020, a late winner.
Man how odd it felt playing this, fun though.

 

[rockstrongo]

Im going to keep this ML (an old save 17 games in)
Gotta say this game has its limitations but vs me playing fifa for a long time, I'll take realistic movement and no ice skating over FIFA's (better) career mode

 

[rockstrongo]

Since picked up my old Roma save from 2022 (12 games in) yesterday and I'm enjoying it quite a bit, 19 games in now and a solid 5th place behind leaders Juventus then Inter/Lazio/Napoli I'm pretty pleased with that.

Haven't really decided what direction I'm going for with this career, I have two options/ideas.
1. since I play with a created player I might do this as a player career (just restart but update age etc when switching team).
Then I might count my 3 seasons prior to this with Salernitana.
That's one option

Second option
Manage the team from a owners perspective (still coaching and playing of course) and replace coaches if results aren't met.
IRL and here Roma is lead by Mourinho and I'm playing his conservative 4-2-3-1 tactics.
I've set up goals for Roma as an owner/board.
Season 1 top 5
Season 2 top three
Season 3 scudetto (though top 3 is good enough)
Have European football every season, minimum group stage, preferably last 32.

If goals aren't met, Mourinho is replaced by another coach and ill play his style of football and so on.

Anyway I'm having a lot of fun with this.
TP 15 min (might go 20)
Pass 1 and basic shooting, probably go PA0 after a while since i like more

 

[rockstrongo]

Game 20 of Serie A proved to be a tough one.

Pescara away (dead last) and I scored on a corner mid first half, 5 min låter after a massive push by Pescara they scored on a free kick, hit the crossbar and out to a striker who scored on the rebound.

2-1 me early second half, a nice build up by me around the box finding a gap and Kluivert curled it home.
10 min later Pescara crossed it and my CB couldn't head it away and their striker smashed in 2-2.

10 min to go i hit a cross to the far left side and a through ball in to the box straight away opened them up and my big center tank smashed it post in
Game over and a nice win against a tough side


Still 5th place for me, but only 1 point up to Napoli and Lazio in 4th and 3rd place
13 points up to Juventus who's running away with this
Next up , double header Vs Salernitana in the cup for me

 

[Kopite1990]

Game 20 of Serie A proved to be a tough one.

Pescara away (dead last) and I scored on a corner mid first half, 5 min låter after a massive push by Pescara they scored on a free kick, hit the crossbar and out to a striker who scored on the rebound.

2-1 me early second half, a nice build up by me around the box finding a gap and Kluivert curled it home.
10 min later Pescara crossed it and my CB couldn't head it away and their striker smashed in 2-2.

10 min to go i hit a cross to the far left side and a through ball in to the box straight away opened them up and my big center tank smashed it post in
Game over and a nice win against a tough side
View attachment 286853

Still 5th place for me, but only 1 point up to Napoli and Lazio in 4th and 3rd place
13 points up to Juventus who's running away with this
Next up , double header Vs Salernitana in the cup for me

Class mate - Nothing better than a last minute Master League winner. I still do a lap of my living room now and get a funny look from the wife 😂

 

[rockstrongo]

Class mate - Nothing better than a last minute Master League winner. I still do a lap of my living room now and get a funny look from the wife 😂

Ha ha same here buddy, i really enjoy my pes 20 atm, despite its flaws.