Desert Eagle | Golden Koi (Minimal Wear)

Minimal Wear (MW) on the Desert Eagle | Golden Koi is the lesser of the skin's two wears, with a float of 0.07 to 0.12. The finish scale stops at 0.12, so the MW ceiling never reaches the usual 0.15. The skin is Covert rank, from The Bravo Collection. The band takes 42% of the scale length, nearly half of all the copies that can exist.

What the Desert Eagle | Golden Koi looks like in Minimal Wear

This Deagle is light, and its whole surface is covered in fish scales. The palette is a single one, creamy gold, almost champagne, with darker shadows between the scales. The scales run across the slide, the frame, the grip and the trigger guard; only the sights are left free. Each scale is outlined, and the rows overlap.

On a light base wear shows early. The relief on the slide edges is smoothed first and turns into a flat pale patch. In MW that has begun, but up to a float of 0.12 little is destroyed: the rows mostly still read.

Where the Desert Eagle | Golden Koi came from

The finish came from Valve, not the Steam Workshop. The Bravo Collection with this skin came out on September 19, 2013, and the Desert Eagle | Golden Koi arrived in the same update. In Valve's finish catalog it is number 185. Later, in December 2013, Valve opened community servers for the maps Cobblestone and Overpass and left official matchmaking only for The Bravo Collection.

What to check before buying

On a Desert Eagle | Golden Koi, look at these things before paying:

• float: near the 0.07 border the edge wear is lighter than near 0.12;


• the placement of the artwork: the pattern index shifts the scales across the body;


• stickers and a name tag already on this Desert Eagle | Golden Koi.

The artwork here is a draw, and it is the second most important parameter after float. The finish has no named phases, so listings have to be compared by preview. The Desert Eagle | Golden Koi in this wear is a tight band of 0.07 to 0.12, where the difference between listings is hard to catch.

What the Desert Eagle | Golden Koi costs in Minimal Wear

The skin has only two wears, and Factory New costs about the same: the gap is under three percent. So the choice between them goes by looks, not by price.

Among the four Covert Deagles in this wear, the Golden Koi is the most expensive. The nearest, Ocean Drive, is cheaper by about two and a half times, Code Red by more than three, Printstream by four.

Getting the Desert Eagle | Golden Koi

Its case is the Operation Bravo Case. A trade-up into it takes ten skins from the rank below. Build the ten from The Bravo Collection and you get the Golden Koi or AK-47 | Fire Serpent, at one chance in two. Five Covert skins turn into an item with the ★ mark, a rare special item.

StatTrak and Souvenir

A StatTrak version of the Desert Eagle | Golden Koi exists. No souvenir packages were released for this finish.

Stickers and craft on the Desert Eagle | Golden Koi

Scales cover almost the whole body, and flat spots are few. Dark and cool stickers give contrast on the pale gold, while golden and cream ones get lost on it. After the edges wear, the slide looks uneven, so a sticker is easier to place on the frame by the grip.

Who this wear suits

Minimal Wear on the Desert Eagle | Golden Koi makes sense for these purposes:

• you want a scaled Deagle for CS2, and Factory New costs the same, so there is no price difference;


• you pick the artwork on a listing by its index, not by the float number;


• a light scuff on the slide edges is acceptable.

If the intact outline of each scale matters, look at Factory New: its price is the same.