M4A1-S | Leaded Glass (Field-Tested)

Field-Tested (FT) on the M4A1-S | Leaded Glass sits mid-rank among this model's Classified finishes: of twelve Classified M4A1-S finishes, five cost less and six cost more. The skin's own wear cap is 0.70, so the lowest grade is cut short. It is a Classified rank skin that comes from the Spectrum 2 Case.

What the M4A1-S | Leaded Glass looks like in Field-Tested

The whole finish is built from angular shards separated by dark bridges, like stained glass or broken colored glass. The shards are orange, yellow, red, teal and blue, and their densest area falls on the suppressor and the side of the receiver. The stock and grip are painted in the same pattern. The ribbed handguard and the magazine are left dark, without shards. There are no figures, lettering or numbers in the artwork.

The weak point is the bridges: they are thin and tear at the edges first. In FT that means the end and ribs of the suppressor, the edges of the receiver sides and the corners of the stock. Inside the large colored segments wear comes later and looks like gray bald patches over the glass.

Where the M4A1-S | Leaded Glass came from

The finish is by de puiseau of the Steam Workshop. The submission appeared on September 9, 2017, under the same name as the finished skin. In the game the Spectrum 2 Collection opened on September 14, 2017, five days after the work was published. The author attached no text about the idea to the submission. The finish is number 681 in Valve's catalog.

What to check before buying

Before paying, check:

• the float: it shows how far the dark bridges on the edges have been eaten away;


• the end of the suppressor, where the glass lightens soonest;


• the previous owner's stickers and name tag.

The pattern never varies between copies. This grade has the band 0.15 to 0.38, and across it the scuffing builds up visibly.

What the M4A1-S | Leaded Glass costs in Field-Tested

The ratios between grades are unusual here:

• Factory New is dearer by about three and a half times;


• Minimal Wear costs almost the same as FT;


• Well-Worn is also nearly level;


• Battle-Scarred is cheaper by a small margin.

So the four lower grades are separated by percent, not by multiples. Choosing among them is a matter of looks, and you pay a multiple only for Factory New.

Within the rank it goes like this: above the skin stands M4A1-S | Decimator, dearer by a few percent. Below come M4A1-S | Party Animal and M4A1-S | Black Lotus, and the rank closes with M4A1-S | Stratosphere and M4A1-S | Solitude. The top is held by M4A1-S | Fatal Glitch, M4A1-S | Atomic Alloy and M4A1-S | Master Piece.

Getting the M4A1-S | Leaded Glass

The Spectrum 2 Case is the only case with this finish; it does not drop from any other. Ten skins one rank down from this collection turn into an M4A1-S | Leaded Glass in a trade-up.

StatTrak and Souvenir

Stickers and craft on the M4A1-S | Leaded Glass

The M4A1-S | Leaded Glass 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 motley glass fights almost any sticker: colored ones drown in the mosaic. White and black read cleanest, since their outline does not blur into the bridges. For a craft in CS2 the stock is what remains, and the side of the receiver is better left alone, because the pattern is densest there.

Who this wear suits

Field-Tested on the M4A1-S | Leaded Glass makes sense under these conditions:

• you want a motley M4A1-S for CS2 and the gap to the lower grades is a matter of percent;


• Factory New is off the table: its price is more than three times higher;


• the float matters: it decides whether the bridges between shards are intact.

Toward 0.38 the suppressor edges and stock corners are already pale, and the stained glass is torn at the rims. Even glass runs up to roughly 0.21.