AK-47 | Blue Laminate (Field-Tested)

The AK-47 | Blue Laminate in Field-Tested (FT) takes up nearly three fifths of the skin's wear scale. The band assigned to it is 0.15 to 0.38, while the finish as a whole runs from 0.02 to 0.40. The rank is Restricted, and the rifle drops from the eSports 2013 Winter Case. Paint sits on the wood only: the metal was left as it came from the factory.

What the AK-47 | Blue Laminate looks like in Field-Tested

Handguard, upper guard, pistol grip and stock are painted blue, with the grain of the wood layers showing straight through. Brown and orange veins run across it, the way real laminated plywood looks. Receiver, top cover, barrel and gas tube stay dark gray metal, and the magazine is black. The point of the finish is that contrast between blue wood and an untouched metal group. No lettering or figures appear anywhere on the body.

Wear in this grade collects on the edges of the wooden parts: stock corners, the front face of the handguard, the guard by the gas block. Flat sides of the stock keep their blue, so the rifle stays recognizable at any float. Metal does not change with wear, and the usual graying of a whole body never happens here.

Where the AK-47 | Blue Laminate came from

The finish is Valve's own work, with no Steam Workshop involvement. The eSports 2013 Winter Collection came out on December 18, 2013. The set was handed out through a paid case, part of whose revenue went into tournament prize pools.

In Valve's catalog of finishes this one is number 226, among the earliest entries on the list. Valve's own description is short: the rifle was given laminated wood.

What to check before buying

What separates one listing from another:

• float, since the rubbing shows on the stock corners and the front face of the handguard;


• the state of the upper guard by the gas block, where the paint goes first;


• a name tag and any stickers already on the body.

Every copy carries the same artwork.

Between 0.15 and 0.38 the look changes gradually, so two listings in the same grade can be quite unalike.

What the AK-47 | Blue Laminate costs in Field-Tested

Against this grade the others stand as follows:

• Factory New is dearer by roughly ninety percent;


• Minimal Wear by about a tenth;


• Well-Worn by around half again.

Battle-Scarred does not exist on this skin, because the scale breaks off at 0.40. For the same reason Well-Worn is squeezed into 0.38 to 0.40, a twentieth of the range, and copies there ask more than Field-Tested or Minimal Wear do.

Nine Restricted AK-47 finishes carry a price in this grade, and the Blue Laminate is seventh by ascending order. Slate, Rat Rod and Midnight Laminate come in several times cheaper; only Orbit Mk01 and First Class stand above it.

Getting the AK-47 | Blue Laminate

The eSports 2013 Winter Case is the only case with this finish in it. The rifle also comes out of an exchange of ten skins one step below from the same set.

StatTrak and Souvenir

Stickers and craft on the AK-47 | Blue Laminate

The AK-47 | Blue Laminate has a StatTrak version. Souvenir copies of the finish turn up as well, though no Souvenir packages were ever made for it: packages only ever covered tournament map collections. Those copies are built with the Souvenir-O-Matic, which puts gold tournament stickers and a player autograph on a normal skin from the inventory.

Blue wood and gray metal make a calm base that carries bright and dark stickers alike. They usually go on the receiver and the magazine, since covering the wood is a waste: it is the whole point here. Orange and white pieces echo the veins in the layers, while blue ones get lost on this background in CS2.

Who this wear suits

Taking this rifle in Field-Tested is sensible if:

• a calm AK for CS2 with wood instead of graphics is what is wanted;


• paying nearly double for Factory New makes no sense, as the difference shows only on the edges;


• listings are picked by float, and the band here is a long one.

The finish has a limit of its own: the metal is unpainted, so the rifle is only half colored. That contrast is impossible to mistake for anything else in CS2, though, and wear barely spoils the look.