Desert Eagle | Printstream (Field-Tested)

Of the Covert Desert Eagle finishes in CS2, the cheapest is the Desert Eagle | Printstream in Field-Tested (FT). The model has four finishes at that rank. The Desert Eagle | Golden Koi stops at 0.12 float and does not come in this grade, so there are two others to compare against here. The rank is Covert, and the Desert Eagle | Printstream drops from the Fracture Case.

What the Desert Eagle | Printstream looks like in Field-Tested

The slide is white and the frame black, a strict scheme without a single spot of color. Fine graphics are scattered over the white: a large mark built from two X shapes, a barcode, card suit symbols and rows of dotted lines that read like a printout. A narrow iridescent band runs along the lower edge of the grip.

Pearl works in spots here rather than all over. Light moves across the white slide as the pistol turns, and a cold highlight travels with it. Ordinary black and white finishes have nothing like it, and that highlight is the mark of the Printstream line.

In Field-Tested the pearl dulls on the edge of the slide and at the muzzle, and the white base grays in the same places. The small graphics lose their crispness toward the edges, but the X mark sits in the center and stays whole. The black frame looks the way it does in clean grades.

Where the Desert Eagle | Printstream came from

The whole line was drawn by JTPNZ, an artist from the Steam Workshop. He posted the Desert Eagle submission on June 3, 2020 and called it the last piece of the Printstream collection. The inspiration, by his own account, was the painter Felipe Pantone, hence the geometric crosses and rectangles in hard black and white. The dotted lines on the rear section he explained as a nod to ASCII art.

The finish entered the game on August 6, 2020 alongside the Fracture Case, and Valve's catalog numbers it 962.

What to check before buying

• the float, which tells how much pearl shine is left on the slide;


• the state of the white base at the muzzle, the first place it grays;


• stickers and a name applied by the previous owner.

The entire run of the Desert Eagle | Printstream is drawn identically, so a lucky or unlucky layout does not exist here.

What the Desert Eagle | Printstream costs in Field-Tested

Factory New asks around twice as much and Minimal Wear about a third more. Downward the price barely moves: Well-Worn is even slightly dearer than Field-Tested, and Battle-Scarred cheaper by a few percent. Nothing is saved by dropping below this grade.

Four Covert Desert Eagle finishes exist, and three of them reach Field-Tested, where Printstream is the cheapest. Code Red asks about a quarter more, and Ocean Drive close to twice as much.

Getting the Desert Eagle | Printstream

The pistol drops from the Fracture Case. The second route is a trade-up: ten Classified skins of this collection return one Covert skin, and the collection holds two of those.

StatTrak and Souvenir

Stickers and craft on the Desert Eagle | Printstream

The Desert Eagle | Printstream has a StatTrak version. No Souvenir packages were ever made for this finish, because packages only ever covered tournament map collections. A souvenir copy can still be built by hand. The Souvenir-O-Matic puts gold tournament stickers and a player autograph on a normal skin from the inventory. That is why the odd souvenir copy turns up where no package was ever made.

A black and white base accepts any color. That makes it one of the easier grounds for a craft in CS2. Bright stickers read at once, while white and gray ones get lost in the graphics. The frame below the slide is free, and the slide with the X mark is usually left bare.

Who this wear suits

Buying the Desert Eagle | Printstream in Field-Tested is the right call when:

• a Covert Deagle for CS2 is wanted at the lowest price in the rank;


• going lower is pointless, the price down there being the same;


• strict black and white graphics appeal more than bright finishes.

The pearl highlights are already muted in Field-Tested, and they are the main feature of the line. Anyone who wants an even shimmer should move up to Minimal Wear.