M4A1-S | Flashback (Field-Tested)

The M4A1-S | Flashback in Field-Tested (FT) still shows its graffiti on the body, but the cream lettering along the edges has begun to break up. Its floats run from 0.15 to 0.38. The skin is Restricted rank and drops from the Glove Case.

What the M4A1-S | Flashback looks like in Field-Tested

The base is olive with swampy green and sandy patches, and cream-white graffiti is scattered over it. The writing runs across the suppressor, receiver, magazine and stock: large on the suppressor, smaller on the receiver. There is no single picture, just a set of tags laid over camouflage. Some of the words can be read, some are deliberately smeared, and numbers show on the receiver. The magazine and grip keep to the same palette, with the cream turning yellow in places.

In Field-Tested the lettering on the raised edges gives out first, and on worn copies it falls apart into separate strokes. The olive base hides the wear, so condition is read from the letters rather than the background. At 0.15 the words are intact almost everywhere; toward 0.38 some of them tear.

Where the M4A1-S | Flashback came from

The finish was drawn by the Superior Weapons team. The Glove Collection dates to November 28, 2016, and Valve's catalog numbers this skin 631. The rare special items of the same case are gloves rather than knives, and the collection is named after them.

What to check before buying

On the M4A1-S | Flashback, these change from listing to listing:

• the float within 0.15 to 0.38: toward the upper end the cream letters lose their edges;


• how whole the large lettering on the suppressor is, since it wears away before the rest;


• stickers on the body and a name tag, if there is one.

The pattern index changes nothing on the M4A1-S | Flashback. The wear is stretched from 0.15 to 0.38, and you can see it on inspection.

What the M4A1-S | Flashback costs in Field-Tested

Here is how the neighboring wears sit against Field-Tested:

• Factory New costs more than thirty times as much;


• Minimal Wear costs two and a quarter times as much;


• Well-Worn is a sixth cheaper;


• Battle-Scarred is a quarter cheaper.

The ladder on this finish is skewed upward: Field-Tested, Well-Worn and Battle-Scarred sit side by side, while Factory New costs dozens of times more than any of them. Clean letters on the edges are exactly what that gap pays for.

Among Restricted M4A1-S skins in this wear, the Flashback is fourth from the top of ten. Nearest below is the M4A1-S | Liquidation, about half the price. Above it come the M4A1-S | Basilisk, M4A1-S | Bright Water and M4A1-S | Dark Water, the last two roughly nine and fifteen times dearer.

Getting the M4A1-S | Flashback

The Glove Case is the main source: this M4A1-S drops from it.

A trade-up contract for the M4A1-S | Flashback takes ten skins of the rank below. If all are from the Glove Collection, which has five Restricted skins, the odds of landing on this finish are one in five.

StatTrak and Souvenir

Stickers and craft on the M4A1-S | Flashback

The M4A1-S | Flashback has a StatTrak version. No Souvenir packages were ever issued for this finish: they were made only for the tournament map collections. But you can build a Souvenir copy yourself, since the Souvenir-O-Matic applies gold tournament stickers and a player autograph to an ordinary skin from your inventory. That is why a few Souvenir copies turn up now and then even where no packages ever existed.

This finish leaves little open background: the lettering covers the body almost entirely, suppressor included. Cream and white stickers drown in the graffiti, while dark and colored ones read well on the olive base. Flat room for a craft remains on the magazine and at the butt of the stock. In Field-Tested part of a sticker on a worn edge is lost along with the paint.

Who this wear suits

Buying the M4A1-S | Flashback here makes sense if:

• you want an inexpensive Restricted M4A1-S for CS2 with noticeable graphics;


• choosing by float matters to you: within 0.15 to 0.38 the lettering looks different from copy to copy;


• you do not want to pay for the clean letters of the factory grade.

At the low end of the band the finish is close to Minimal Wear; at the top the letters are already flaking. In CS2 this wear does the job: the graffiti is recognizable even on a scuffed body.