Skins with original patterns in CS2. Can a $1 skin cost $100?
Why can the same skin be valued differently? This is the question asked by users who hear about skins being sold for tens of thousands of dollars but cannot find similar prices on the Steam marketplace. Often, this is due to the rarity of the item or a unique pattern that significantly alters the appearance of the skin. It is worth noting that this applies not to all skins, but only to those with dynamic patterns.
What does this mean? Imagine you have a pattern on paper, and you want to apply it to any item. The final arrangement of the elements of the chosen pattern will depend on how you apply it (from bottom to top, from left to right, etc.). For items with dynamic patterns, the image is applied randomly, resulting in a unique item. There can be many resulting variations, but still a limited number. Each pattern arrangement has its own number, which often determines its rarity. In this article, we will look at examples of unique patterns that can be found in CS2.
1. AWP | Electric Hive
One of the most straightforward skins in terms of pattern changes. If you want to understand what a pattern is, how it changes, and how it affects the appearance, start with this rifle. This skin has a constant ornament resembling honeycombs, but in two colors – orange and blue. Usually, both of these colors are present on the front side, but there are two rare patterns where the front side consists entirely of orange or blue honeycombs. If you want to get one of these versions, look for patterns numbered 253 (orange) and 257 (blue).
2. MAC-10 | Last Dive
A slightly more complex story with the skin pattern from the Spectrum collection. Many of you must have seen this submachine gun in the game, but you probably didn’t know that it’s not just a random abstraction but a full-fledged art. In pattern number 386, you can see an image of a skull with a snake, which explains why the skin was named that way. You are unlikely to get a significantly higher price for this version, but it’s easier to acquire it in your inventory as a collector’s item.
3. Desert Eagle | Hypnotic
An item from the very first case in the game, which was added over 10 years ago. Representatives of this collection already cost quite a bit of money without any unique characteristics. The price for this item starts at $180, and its rarer patterns are sold for two or more times the price. With a certain layout, circular patterns resembling hypnotic drawings become more similar to zebra stripes. One of such patterns in the community is called the “zebra eye.”
4. Glock-18 | Grinder
This Glock is quite affordable and common among CS2 players. Its low price and visual variability allow it to be matched to many sets. The main thing is that it looks great with any pattern. In its classic form, it’s a gray skin with small decorative elements, but in certain patterns, it becomes completely black, and the patterns become significantly smaller.
5. P250 | Nevermore
Another example where a dynamic pattern allows you to see new details. In some language adaptations of the game, this skin is translated as “Raven.” But the problem is that the raven is visible only on certain models, not all of them. The rarest is considered the arrangement of a raven spreading its wings on the front part of the slide.
6. Skeleton Knife | Case Hardened
We have come to the most expensive, representative of rare patterns. The skin’s surface hardening simulates metal corrosion, forming patterns of different shades of blue, yellow, and purple. This famous collection is featured on all knives, AK-47s, and the Five-Seven pistol. The rarest pattern is when the metallic parts of the weapon turn completely blue. Such skins are called Blue Gems, and there have been many cases where they were sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Getting such a skin from a case is akin to winning the lottery, and collectors are much more willing to pay for Blue Gems. Therefore, finding a buyer for such an item is unlikely to be a difficult task.
7. UMP-45 | Moonrise
This is one of the first and most common skins with a dynamic pattern. It changes strictly horizontally, and the retro-neon cityscape is displayed differently. Somewhere the moon will be on the front part of the weapon, and sometimes it may disappear altogether. But the main distinguishing feature of this skin is the star’s placement on the weapon’s sight. A similar story can be found on the Glock-18.
8. AWP | PAW
Not the most expensive skin for AWP, but very popular in the CS community. The cute art with images of dogs and cats in a cartoon style does not leave anyone indifferent, and its extremely low price doubles the joy (no more than $5 for the Factory New version). Since the animals are placed all over the pattern, it becomes more noticeable which animal is depicted depending on the pattern. Therefore, everyone can choose their favorite version, but the rarest is considered the pattern with a golden cat in the central part of the body.
9. Granite Marbleized
A case where everything happened by itself, and the end result was not in the author’s plan. A nondescript skin that can drop after a game and lies in the inventories of thousands of users. It is not excluded that even you had such a pistol, but you never thought about playing with it, and immediately sold it on the marketplace. Everything changed one day when a player discovered that you can see an image of a hamster on his skin. This did not affect the item’s price, but the amusing story spread across the internet.
10. Five-SeveN | Kami
There are over a dozen variations of different interesting patterns for this skin. The pistol slide and small weapon components are adorned with original designs reminiscent of Japanese comic book pages. There are many versions in the community where various comic elements end up on the back of the pistol, forming amusing drawings.
Unfortunately, items with dynamic patterns are becoming increasingly rare, and the existing representatives have already been thoroughly studied. It is possible that VALVE intentionally does not add such skins for various reasons. Primarily, this may be related to selling such skins outside the marketplace. Buying the necessary item directly from a user on Steam is quite difficult, so players simply trade them or use specialized markets.