AK-47 | Emerald Pinstripe (Minimal Wear)

The AK-47 | Emerald Pinstripe in Minimal Wear (MW): the thin green lines are still intact along their full length, and that is exactly what the extra money pays for. The wear band is 0.07 to 0.15. It is Restricted rank; the finish belongs to The Bank Collection and has no case in CS2.

What the AK-47 | Emerald Pinstripe looks like in Minimal Wear

The metal on this AK is dark gray, almost black, and the wood of the handguard and stock is dark, gray-brown, with an open grain. The ornament lies only on the wood: thin lines gathered into leaves and curls wind along the handguard, the upper cover and the stock. The receiver and magazine are bare, with no pattern, so most of the rifle stays dark.

The lines come in two colors: bright green paired with a silvery white, so Valve's description of white and green stripes on stained oak fits the model. The lines break off here and there on their own, and there is no lettering or numbers on the model. In Minimal Wear the ornament is intact along its full length. Scuffs land in spots: on the stock corners, along the handguard edge and on the raised parts of the receiver cover.

Where the AK-47 | Emerald Pinstripe came from

Valve drew the artwork itself, and there is no Steam Workshop submission behind the finish. The Bank collection dates from May 1, 2014. In a separate note Valve announced that the set had been added to the drop list, which is how the collection reached players. The finish's number in the Valve catalog is 300.

What to check before buying

In an AK-47 | Emerald Pinstripe listing, check these parameters:

• the float within 0.07 to 0.15: near the upper limit the lines along the handguard edge are already broken;


• the condition of the ornament on the stock, where thin branches give way sooner than the large curls;


• stickers and an applied name, which go with the listing on the AK-47 | Emerald Pinstripe.

The AK-47 | Emerald Pinstripe in this wear is a short 0.07 to 0.15 stretch, so there is no point chasing the number. There is no choosing by pattern either: it is the same on every listing.

What the AK-47 | Emerald Pinstripe costs in Minimal Wear

Factory New costs about three and a half times as much, and that is the biggest step on this finish: a dark base with thin lines gives away any scuff. Field-Tested is cheaper by about one and a half times, and Well-Worn and Battle-Scarred by almost half.

Of nine Restricted AKs with a price in this wear, the AK-47 | Emerald Pinstripe is the cheapest. Its nearest neighbors above, AK-47 | Safety Net and AK-47 | Breakthrough, cost a tenth and a quarter more. AK-47 | First Class, the most expensive Restricted AK, costs tens of times as much.

Getting the AK-47 | Emerald Pinstripe

No CS2 case contains this skin. Through a contract you hand over ten skins of the rank below from the same set. There is only one Restricted skin in The Bank Collection, so the trade-up gives exactly the AK-47 | Emerald Pinstripe and not a random item of this rank.

The rest is a ready-made listing: the set is old, and in CS:GO it was handed out as a regular drop.

StatTrak and Souvenir

No StatTrak version of the AK-47 | Emerald Pinstripe was released. Souvenir copies do exist, but no packages were made for this finish: they were made only for the map tournament collections. Such copies are built through the Souvenir-O-Matic, which puts gold tournament stickers and a player autograph on an ordinary skin from your inventory.

Stickers and craft on the AK-47 | Emerald Pinstripe

There is more room for stickers here than on densely painted finishes: the dark magazine and the free areas of the receiver take almost any logo. Green and lime stickers get lost next to the ornament, while white and red ones read at first glance. On edges where the lines are already touched, part of a sticker comes away with the paint, and it cannot be removed without a trace.

Who this wear suits

Buying the AK-47 | Emerald Pinstripe in Minimal Wear makes sense in three cases:

• you want an intact ornament, but paying triple for a factory body does not suit you;


• the AK will go both into play and into your inventory: the lines in this wear are not yet fragmentary;


• predictability matters: the stretch is short, and the spread within the wear is small.

In CS2 the difference from Field-Tested shows only up close, and it is worth a look before you buy.