AWP | PAW (Field-Tested)

This is the AWP | PAW in Field-Tested (FT), and the finish costs less here than in any other wear. The floats here fall within 0.15 to 0.38. It is Restricted rank, and the AWP drops from the Horizon Case.

What the AWP | PAW looks like in Field-Tested

There is no paw print on the finish, though the name promises exactly that. A dense collage of cartoon animal faces covers the side of the receiver, the cheek of the stock, the buttplate and the grip. Round eyes, noses and ears are layered on top of each other with no gaps and no background. The author meant it that way: he described the work as the eternal argument between cats and dogs.

The palette is muted: olive green, sand, brick orange and dark red, with turquoise patches here and there. The barrel, muzzle brake, optic and bipod are dark gray metal, with a turquoise glint near the muzzle. The AWP | PAW has no single large element, and the artwork works as a solid carpet.

The figures are small, so wear eats them piece by piece. In Field-Tested the edges of the receiver sides, the edge of the stock cheek and the buttplate lose their recognizability. The middle of the side stays readable even at the top of the band, and the animals there remain intact.

Where the AWP | PAW came from

The finish was made by a Steam Workshop artist who goes by TheDanidem, who posted the submission on January 6, 2018 under the name "AWP // PawPaw". The author picked a glossy finish, Anodized Multicolored, and explained why. The animals' eyes, the sunglasses, the metal and the gold were all meant to catch the light on the rifle. He described the idea simply: CS:GO with cats and dogs.

The Horizon Collection appeared on August 1, 2018. The finish number in the catalog is 718.

What to check before buying

On an AWP | PAW, look at these things before paying:

• the float: the band is long, and on small artwork the losses read along the edges;


• the buttplate and the edge of the stock cheek, where the figures tear first;


• any name tag and stickers already on the listing.

Listings of this wear differ noticeably, because the 0.15 to 0.38 band is long.

What the AWP | PAW costs in Field-Tested

This is the most affordable wear of the finish, and the other four cost more:

• Factory New, about three and a half times as much;


• Minimal Wear, about one and a half times as much;


• Well-Worn, about a tenth more;


• Battle-Scarred, about a quarter more.

In other words, the price does not fall at all toward the bottom: the most beaten-up wear costs more than the middle one. The choice comes down to Field-Tested versus paying extra for Minimal Wear.

Within the Restricted rank of this weapon the finish sits near the bottom: only the AWP | Pit Viper is cheaper, and the AWP | Phobos is level with it. Right above it are the AWP | Worm God and the AWP | Exothermic, higher up the AWP | Black Box and the AWP | POP AWP. The rank is closed out by the AWP | Pink DDPAT, about ten times as expensive.

Getting the AWP | PAW

The finish drops from the Horizon Case, and the collection has no other cases.

The second road to the AWP | PAW is a contract of ten skins one rank below, all from the same collection. The set has five Restricted skins, so the chance of landing exactly on this AWP is one in five.

StatTrak and Souvenir

Stickers and craft on the AWP | PAW

The AWP | PAW 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.

The artwork fills the whole side, and a sticker gets lost among the faces. The AWP | PAW has almost no calm field: only the dark metal of the barrel and the bolt carrier is free. Crafts in CS2 on this finish are built to match the palette: olive and orange stickers pick up the background, while cool blues drop out of it.

Who this wear suits

Buying the AWP | PAW in Field-Tested makes sense in these situations:

• you want the cheapest version of the finish, since all four other wears cost more;


• you want the artwork readable: in the middle of the side it is intact across the whole band;


• the AWP is going into CS2 matches, not into an inventory display.

By 0.38 the animal faces lose their outlines along the edges, but the collage is still recognizable as a whole. Minimal Wear costs one and a half times as much, and the difference between them shows only up close.