AWP | Medusa (Factory New)

The AWP | Medusa in Factory New (FN) is an AWP with an almost black body and a blue-green drawing of a gorgon on the rear half. The rank is Covert, and the collection is The Gods and Monsters Collection. Among Covert AWPs in this wear the skin is third by price. The AWP | Medusa can be bought for CS2 in any of its five wears.

What the AWP | Medusa looks like in Factory New

The body is dark, almost black, with a blue cast. The artwork is gathered at the back: the gorgon covers the stock and the rear of the receiver, in blue-green tones with a pearlescent shine on the raised spots. The barrel, scope and bipod are unpainted dark metal, and the bolt is lighter.

In Factory New the pearl is intact on the corners of the stock, on the rib of the receiver and on the cheek rest. The glint therefore reads along the full length of the artwork. Moving down the wear scale, it rubs away along the edges, and the green there turns into a matte gray-blue. The float for this wear of the AWP | Medusa is 0.00 to 0.07.

Where the AWP | Medusa came from

Valve drew the AWP | Medusa, and there is no Steam Workshop submission for this finish. In Valve's catalog the finish is number 446. The Gods and Monsters Collection was released on May 26, 2015, and the AWP | Medusa has been in it since launch. In the announcement of Operation Bloodhound, Valve named this collection among the six from which rewards were drawn for pass holders.

What to check before buying

When picking an AWP | Medusa listing, look at the following:

• the float, which decides how cleanly the edges of the stock and receiver have been kept;


• the stickers and name tag already on this copy of the AWP | Medusa.

The layout of the artwork on the AWP | Medusa is not up for draw: every copy is painted the same and differs only in wear. The stretch from 0.00 to 0.07 is short, so the gap between listings sinks into the margin of error.

What the AWP | Medusa costs in Factory New

The neighboring wears, measured against Factory New:

• Minimal Wear costs one and a half times less;


• Field-Tested costs more than two times less;


• Well-Worn and Battle-Scarred cost almost three times less.

Out of nineteen Covert AWPs in Factory New, the Medusa stands third. Only AWP | Gungnir and AWP | Dragon Lore cost more, each by more than double. Below come AWP | The Prince, which is half the price, and AWP | Desert Hydra, almost four times cheaper.

Getting the AWP | Medusa

No case contains the AWP | Medusa.

The AWP | Medusa also comes from a trade-up: the contract takes ten skins from the rank below, all from one collection. The Gods and Monsters Collection has one Classified skin, the M4A4 | Poseidon, and one Covert skin as well. Ten copies of the M4A4 | Poseidon therefore always yield the Medusa.

StatTrak and Souvenir

StatTrak versions of the AWP | Medusa were not issued. Souvenir copies do turn up, but there were no packages for this finish, since those were made only for the tournament map collections. Such copies are produced through the Souvenir-O-Matic, which puts golden tournament stickers and a player autograph on a regular skin from the inventory.

Stickers and craft on the AWP | Medusa

The dark body gives stickers a contrasting background: light, golden and red ones read clearly on it, while blue-green ones merge into the pearl of the stock. The front half of the rifle is unpainted, so stickers there do not compete with the artwork.

Who this wear suits

The AWP | Medusa in Factory New is worth buying under these conditions:

• you want the cleanest copy, with the pearl intact on every edge;


• you are putting together a set of Gods and Monsters Collection skins, and the Medusa is its only Covert finish;


• paying one and a half times more than for Minimal Wear does not bother you.

In CS2 this is a decision about looks: the wear of a skin has no effect on how an AWP shoots.