USP-S | Cortex (Factory New)

The USP-S | Cortex in Factory New (FN) occupies the float band from 0.00 to 0.07, which is 7% of the finish's scale. The finish belongs to The Clutch Collection and carries the Classified rank. Buying this USP-S in FN means getting the pink pattern without a single scuff.

What the USP-S | Cortex looks like in Factory New

The base is bone-like, gray-green, with dark wavy lines resembling a diagram of brain folds. Over it lies a bright pink pattern of bubbly ribbons. On the suppressor it forms the word USP, and on the slide it fans out in swirls. The frame and trigger guard are rusty brown, and the grip carries a drawn turquoise-gray skull with ribs.

In FN no edge is rubbed: the pink lettering on the suppressor, the swirls on the slide and the skull on the grip read in full. On the USP-S | Cortex wear is set at the drop, and a copy that has already dropped picks up no further scuffs.

Where the USP-S | Cortex came from

The author of the finish is Glasgow died. On the Steam Workshop his work was called "USP-S CUT" and went up on August 7, 2015. He wrote of it this way. A precise, quiet USP can be compared to a scalpel in a surgeon's hand, hence the cut-open skull, and the pink brains are "just bubble gum". The finish came out in February 2018 together with The Clutch Collection. In Valve's catalog it is number 705.

What to check before buying

Choosing a particular USP-S | Cortex comes down to these points:

• the float: the wear band on this skin is 0.00 to 0.07;


• stickers on the pistol and a name tag, if there is one;


• whether the pink letters on the suppressor are intact.

The USP-S | Cortex has no second drawing. The scale allots this wear just 0.00 to 0.07, which keeps copies alike.

What the USP-S | Cortex costs in Factory New

The other wears of the USP-S | Cortex stand against Factory New like this:

• Minimal Wear is cheaper by about 3.9 times;


• Field-Tested is cheaper by about 7.4 times;


• Well-Worn is cheaper by about 8.5 times;


• Battle-Scarred is cheaper by about 8.7 times.

The gap between FN and MW is the biggest, and beyond it prices draw closer. Among Classified USP-S finishes in FN, the skin is second from the bottom by price. Only USP-S | Jawbreaker costs less, and above it stand Spiral Glitch, Serum, Caiman and Monster Mashup.

Getting the USP-S | Cortex

The USP-S | Cortex drops from the Clutch Case.

A contract for the USP-S | Cortex takes ten skins of the rank below. Collections are not restricted, and the result comes from the set of one of the inputs. With ten from The Clutch Collection the result stays within the set, which has three Classified skins; the pistol's chance is one in three. The skin itself goes into a contract for the Covert M4A4 | Neo-Noir and MP7 | Bloodsport.

StatTrak and Souvenir

The USP-S | Cortex can be had with StatTrak. No Souvenir package contains it.

Stickers and craft on the USP-S | Cortex

The pink pattern is bright and the base is light. Dark stickers read best on it, pink ones blend into the ribbons, and white ones get lost against the bone-colored ground. The lettering on the suppressor is better left free.

Who this wear suits

Factory New on the USP-S | Cortex is the right pick when:

• you want the pattern lines and the skull on the grip intact;


• you need a pink accent in a CS2 loadout;


• the 0.00 to 0.07 band is short, so there is no need to pick a listing by float.