AK-47 | Hydroponic (Factory New)

AK-47 | Hydroponic, Factory New (FN): the cleanest state of a finish built on a near-white receiver, the surface that shows age first. The band for the AK-47 | Hydroponic in this wear is 0.00–0.07. The rank is Classified rather than Covert, the collection is The Rising Sun Collection, and no case has ever carried the rifle.

What the AK-47 | Hydroponic looks like in Factory New

Handguard and stock are brown lacquered wood, the grain showing through. The receiver and dust cover are light gray, nearly white, with acid-green cannabis leaves across them, drawn flat with fingers spread. Gas tube, front sight base and muzzle are grass-green metal, the grip terracotta, and the dark steel magazine stays outside the artwork.

The leaves cover the receiver and dust cover and stop there. Their sizes differ and some are cropped by a part edge. A small red dot sits at the receiver's rear. On worn copies the plates gray at their edges, the green metal rubs back to steel and the wood darkens at the stock corners. Factory New keeps them near-white, which is what the grade buys.

Where the AK-47 | Hydroponic came from

No community artist is credited on the AK-47 | Hydroponic; Valve made it. The AK-47 | Hydroponic first appeared on May 26, 2015. Two days later Valve announced Operation Bloodhound, with its challenge coin, journal and upgraded weapon drops. The collection reached players that way, not through a case. Valve's own text claims a bamboo motif in metallic paints and credits a gunsmith named Yukako. The render does not bear the bamboo out: the leaves are cannabis. The catalog number is 456.

What to check before buying

What separates one AK-47 | Hydroponic listing from another:

• float, lowest where the plates stay palest;


• the pattern index, since the leaves do not land the same way twice;


• the sticker loadout on the AK-47 | Hydroponic and any applied name.

The 0.00–0.07 window is tight, and the AK-47 | Hydroponic varies little inside it. What remains is the pattern. Leaf size, placement and cropping shift from copy to copy, so two rifles at the same float can look unalike — open the preview before paying.

What the AK-47 | Hydroponic costs in Factory New

The ladder does not fall in a straight line. Minimal Wear asks a little over two-fifths of Factory New; Well-Worn about a third. Field-Tested and Battle-Scarred sit level, within a few cents of each other at roughly a quarter, so the bottom of the scale has no real step.

Inside its own rank the rifle stands alone: no Classified AK-47 in this grade asks more. Jet Set, the next one down, is under a quarter of it.

Getting the AK-47 | Hydroponic

The AK-47 | Hydroponic has never been case content, and Operation Bloodhound closed long ago. The AK-47 | Hydroponic also comes out of a trade-up: ten skins a tier down, all from this collection.

StatTrak and Souvenir

Stickers and craft on the AK-47 | Hydroponic

No StatTrak version of the AK-47 | Hydroponic was ever released, and no Souvenir packages were made for this finish either: packages only ever covered tournament map collections. A souvenir copy can still be built by hand. The Souvenir-O-Matic puts gold tournament stickers and a player autograph on a normal skin from the inventory. That is why the odd souvenir copy turns up where no package was ever made.

The pale receiver is the only open field, and leaves already occupy much of it. Green stickers merge into the silhouettes and warm ones argue with the terracotta grip; black and white hold against light gray.

Who this wear suits

Go for the AK-47 | Hydroponic in Factory New when:

• the near-white receiver has to look new, which only this grade gives;


• you are ready to compare patterns, not just floats;


• the rifle is a collection piece, not a match weapon.

Anyone who only wants the green-and-wood look has cheaper grades to pick from.