★ M9 Bayonet | Doppler Sapphire (Factory New)

★ M9 Bayonet | Doppler Sapphire in Factory New: a blade with no scuffing at all, cutting edge and saw teeth whole. The rank is Covert, with the ★ mark. Sapphire is one of three Doppler gems, a rare phase rather than an ordinary one. The float scale ends at 0.08, so the finish has two grades: Factory New (FN) and Minimal Wear (MW).

What the ★ M9 Bayonet | Doppler Sapphire looks like in Factory New

Thick blue lacquer covers the blade. Lighter sky-blue patches and dark runs sit in it, the pale ones near the spine and the hole. Blue covers the guard, the ring and the saw teeth along the whole spine. The handle is left stock gray, the cutting edge light.

This grade occupies 0.00 to 0.07, so listings look much alike. The edge and the saw teeth give way first, then the raised lip of the guard, where blue thins to bright metal. Factory New has none of that; it begins in Minimal Wear.

Where the ★ M9 Bayonet | Doppler Sapphire came from

Valve drew the Doppler finish; no outside artist is credited. On the M9 Bayonet it arrived on January 8, 2015. Valve headed the patch note for that update "Full Spectrum", and the Chroma Case came with it. It was later added to the next cases of the Chroma series. Its number in Valve's catalog is 416.

Phase and pattern

The phase stands in the item name, and the premium is paid for it, not the grade. Phases 1 through 4 are ordinary; Ruby, Sapphire and Black Pearl are the rare variants people call gems. In the CS2 data those three belong to Doppler alone, and Gamma Doppler has Emerald instead.

Here the blue floods the whole face of the blade, which is what separates a gem from a normal phase. On Phase 4 the share of blue depends on the pattern index. Copies where blue took nearly the entire face are called Max Blue and pass for Sapphire on a thumbnail. A good index costs more inside the ordinary phases, so read the title in full.

What to check before buying

Listings are compared on the following:

• the phase in the title: a Max Blue Phase 4 looks similar at a different price;


• the float inside the grade, which changes nothing visually at these sums;


• the applied name: a knife can carry a name tag and never carries stickers;


• a StatTrak mark in the title, which marks a separate item with its own price.

What the ★ M9 Bayonet | Doppler Sapphire costs in Factory New

Minimal Wear comes in about a quarter below, a visible gap for a gem. Among Covert M9 Bayonet finishes in Factory New, Sapphire is fifth from the top. Only Crimson Web, the emerald Gamma Doppler, Ruby and Black Pearl stand above it. An ordinary Phase 2 is four times cheaper, and the M9 Bayonet | Ultraviolet a little over three.

Getting the ★ M9 Bayonet | Doppler Sapphire

The Chroma Case hands the knife over as its rare ★ item. The two cases after it do the same, and the phase drops at random. A craft of five Covert skins from one collection also returns a random rare special item. Sapphire is therefore bought as a finished listing, never aimed at in an opening.

StatTrak and Souvenir

A StatTrak version of this knife exists in the game; a Souvenir edition does not.

Who this wear suits

Factory New is the right call here when:

• an even blue blade is the point, not the blue-and-black mix of the ordinary phases;


• the CS2 loadout is built around blue;


• a clean edge and unbroken saw teeth matter, since Minimal Wear has touched both.