AWP | Desert Hydra (Factory New)

AWP | Desert Hydra, Factory New (FN): the cleanest of its five grades. Barrel, scope and butt plate are white here, and scuffing shows on them first. The stretch of scale is 0.00–0.07. The rifle comes out of the Mirage souvenir package from the Stockholm Major, and the rank is Covert.

What the AWP | Desert Hydra looks like in Factory New

A hydra crawls across the body, coils brown-olive rather than gold. They interlace on the receiver side and run back onto the stock. The background beneath is red-orange, flaring to golden yellow near the magazine well. Small turquoise-green marks sit at the claws, the only cool color here.

The front half is pale: barrel, scope tube and butt plate are creamy white with a fine pink speckle. No artwork is there, only thin coral lines and rings, plus a coral leaf-like fan at the gas block. Valve explains the finish through the myth: cut off one head and two grow back.

Here the cream parts are clean: no gray film at the muzzle, no rubbed edges on the scope body. The coils keep their relief throughout, and the turquoise marks are not dulled. The band is narrow, so copies barely differ.

Where the AWP | Desert Hydra came from

Valve drew the artwork, and the catalog number is 819. The 2021 Mirage Collection is dated September 21, 2021. The operation launched that day, and Valve's note listed what it brought: new maps, missions and weapon sets. It carried over into CS2 with the rest of the inventory.

Mirage souvenir packages went to viewers of the Stockholm Major that fall. The finish has no ordinary case, and that package is the only source.

What to check before buying

Worth comparing:

• the float, read on the white barrel and scope body, which age first;


• the listing type, since souvenir copies carry their own price;


• the stickers and applied name on the copy.

The finish has no pattern variants, so nothing is chosen there.

What the AWP | Desert Hydra costs in Factory New

The live price stands in the listing block above. The other grades against this one:

• Minimal Wear is cheaper by about a seventh;


• Field-Tested by about a quarter;


• Well-Worn by about a fifth;


• Battle-Scarred by about a quarter.

The spread is small, all four staying within a quarter of Factory New. Well-Worn, meanwhile, costs more than Field-Tested.

Among Covert AWPs here the Desert Hydra is fifteenth of nineteen counting upward. Only The Prince, Medusa, Dragon Lore and Gungnir are dearer. The nearest below, Fade, is about half the price.

Getting the AWP | Desert Hydra

The first route is that souvenir package. A contract takes ten skins a rank down from the same set. The collection holds a single Covert item, so the result of the trade-up is known in advance.

StatTrak and Souvenir

No StatTrak version of the AWP | Desert Hydra exists; a Souvenir edition does.

Stickers and craft on the AWP | Desert Hydra

The background is dense and warm: red, orange, yellow and brown-olive coils. Cool stickers stand out, while yellow and orange ones sink into the artwork. Free space is limited, since the coils took both receiver and stock, so large stickers will cover the artwork.

Who this wear suits

Factory New is the pick if one of these holds:

• clean white parts are needed and gray film on them is unacceptable;


• the premium for the top of the scale is small, others being at most a quarter cheaper;


• a CS2 craft is planned and the copy has to be free of scuffing.

If the white parts are not the point, the gap below is short, and Well-Worn or Battle-Scarred are worth a look.