USP-S | Guardian (Field-Tested)

The USP-S | Guardian in Field-Tested (FT) is a suppressed USP-S for CS2 in a blue-gray palette, with a frame that is already scratched. Restricted rank. The finish belongs to the Phoenix Collection and drops from the Operation Phoenix Weapon Case. The float of the finish runs from 0.00 to 0.38, so Field-Tested sits at its ceiling and covers 61% of the scale.

What the USP-S | Guardian looks like in Field-Tested

The slide is steel-blue, with a dark CT mark near its rear edge. The frame, trigger guard and grip are left as gray metal, and the suppressor is dark, almost black. Apart from the mark and the factory engraving there is no artwork: the finish relies on the contrast between the blue top and the gray bottom.

In Field-Tested the metal of the frame and the area around the trigger guard already carry pale scratches, and the blue slide remains the main mass of color. This wear gives the USP-S | Guardian a float of 0.15 to 0.38.

Where the USP-S | Guardian came from

The USP-S | Guardian appeared on February 21, 2014, when the Phoenix Collection was added to the game. In the update notes Valve wrote that the Operation Phoenix Weapon Case carries thirteen finishes from community authors. Valve calls the USP model itself a fan favorite going back to Counter-Strike: Source.

What to check before buying

On a USP-S | Guardian listing, check these parameters:

• float: it decides how worn the frame and the trigger guard are;


• the name tag and stickers: on the USP-S | Guardian they stay with the listing;


• the wear in the listing name: the finish has three wears, Factory New, Minimal Wear and Field-Tested.

The USP-S | Guardian is the same artwork on every copy, and there are no rare copies. Listings between 0.15 and 0.38 differ noticeably in appearance.

What the USP-S | Guardian costs in Field-Tested

The other two wears, priced against Field-Tested:

• Factory New runs a little over half again as much;


• Minimal Wear is cheaper by a few percent.

Among Restricted USP-S pistols, the finish sits in the middle of the line. Cyrex costs about a sixth more, while Sleeping Potion, Bleeding Edge, Ticket to Hell and Royal Guard are cheaper many times over. The top of the line is Orange Anolis, Road Rash and Dark Water.

Getting the USP-S | Guardian

The USP-S | Guardian drops from the Operation Phoenix Weapon Case, and no other case holds this finish. The alternative to buying is a trade-up: ten skins of the rank below yield the USP-S | Guardian if they belong to this collection.

StatTrak and Souvenir

Stickers and craft on the USP-S | Guardian

A StatTrak version of the USP-S | Guardian exists. No Souvenir packages were ever issued for this finish; those were made only for tournament map collections. You can still build a souvenir copy yourself: the Souvenir-O-Matic applies gold tournament stickers and a player autograph to an ordinary skin from your inventory. That is why the odd souvenir copy turns up even where no packages ever existed.

The pistol has a two-tone base: a steel-blue top and a gray frame. Cold stickers merge with the paint on the blue slide, while light and warm ones read at once. On the frame a sticker sits next to the scratches that this wear already has.

Who this wear suits

Buying the USP-S | Guardian in Field-Tested is worth it for these reasons:

• you want a USP-S in blue and gray for the CT side and do not need a clean frame;


• you can choose between this wear and Minimal Wear by float rather than by price, since the difference in money is a few percent;


• the pistol goes into CS2 matches where nobody studies the scratches on the frame.