AK-47 | Redline (Minimal Wear)

Minimal Wear (MW) is the cleanest state the AK-47 | Redline comes in. The finish starts at 0.10 on its own scale, so a Factory New copy of it does not exist at all. The grade occupies the stretch between 0.10 and 0.15. The rank is Classified, and the rifle drops from the Operation Phoenix Weapon Case.

What the AK-47 | Redline looks like in Minimal Wear

The ground is black going into dark gray and completely matte, with a fine carbon-look weave printed over the receiver and handguard. Narrow bright red lines sit on top of it. They run the length of the receiver, the handguard and the stock, underlining the ribs and doubling up in places. The butt plate and the handguard pad are red through, and the magazine takes the same stripe along its edge. The barrel is black with a thin red outline, and the body carries no lettering.

In Minimal Wear the weave reads across the whole surface and the red lines are intact on every rib. What wear there is comes in spots: the top edge of the receiver cover grays, and so does the corner of the red butt plate. Between 0.10 and 0.15 the rifle does not visibly change. This is the shortest float stretch the skin has, cut off above by the grade boundary and below by the finish's own minimum.

Where the AK-47 | Redline came from

The author is a Steam Workshop artist under the name emkay, who put the submission up on November 5, 2013 as "AK-47 | Elegant-Red - v1.1 (Redline)". The Phoenix Collection opened in game on February 20, 2014. Valve's announcement promised pass holders a new case with thirteen community finishes in it. The catalog lists the artwork as number 282.

What to check before buying

An AK-47 | Redline listing is read by these signs:

• the float inside 0.10 to 0.15, as the receiver cover edge is already graying at the upper end;


• the state of the red butt plate, the most exposed painted area on the rifle;


• the stickers and the name tag the copy inherited from its previous owner.

There is nothing to sort by in the artwork, which lands the same way on every listing.

What the AK-47 | Redline costs in Minimal Wear

This is the dearest grade of the finish, and the gap to the other three is wide. Field-Tested is roughly five times cheaper, Well-Worn and Battle-Scarred around six. Those three hold close together, which puts the entire premium for a clean look inside Minimal Wear.

The picture inside the rank is a different one. Fifteen Classified AK finishes carry a price in this grade, and ten of them come cheaper. Panthera onca is the nearest above, dearer by about three quarters, and Red Laminate the nearest below, about a third cheaper. Searing Rage is the cheapest of the rank, and Hydroponic the dearest Classified AK there is.

Getting the AK-47 | Redline

The direct route is the Operation Phoenix Weapon Case, which has held the finish since release and remains the only case with it.

Ten skins a step down from the same set can also be traded up into this rifle. The Phoenix Collection holds three Classified items, so the chance of the contract returning the AK is one in three.

StatTrak and Souvenir

Stickers and craft on the AK-47 | Redline

The AK-47 | Redline 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.

Two flat spots take a craft: the side of the stock and the magazine. A line crosses the receiver on the diagonal, and a sticker placed there cuts it in half. Minimal Wear adds a second consideration, since the weave is still legible at this float and a glossy sticker beside a matte texture fights it.

Who this wear suits

The grade earns its premium when:

• the red line has to be unbroken and the weave still legible;


• predictability counts, the 0.10 to 0.15 stretch being short and its listings alike;


• the rifle goes to a CS2 showcase and to inspection, not only into matches.

The markup over Field-Tested is around fivefold, and at the distances CS2 plays at none of it shows. The whole case for this grade is clean edges and an intact butt plate.