Blog / floats, patterns, trades
Blog
How floats, patterns and phases change a price, and how a skin actually gets from checkout to your inventory. Written for buyers.
Budget knives: Shadow Daggers, Navaja, Gut, Falchion and what you give up
Why the Gut Knife, Falchion, Navaja and Shadow Daggers cost less than a Karambit with the same finish, and which finishes still look right on a small blade.
Same finish, different knife: why a Karambit costs more than a Bayonet
Same finish, same float, different knife, different price. Model demand, animation, playside area and how each finish reads on a Karambit versus a Bayonet.
Glock-18 | Fade and the fade percentage
What the fade percentage on a Glock-18 Fade actually measures, why it only compares Glocks with Glocks, the 0.08 float cap and what full fade means.
Case Hardened: blue gems, gold gems and the tier lists
How the seed places the blue on Case Hardened, why the playside is what counts, why a Tier 1 AK-47 and a Tier 1 Five-SeveN price apart and how to read a tier list yourself.
Gamma Doppler: Emerald and the four phases
The green family: Phases 1 to 4 and Emerald. How Gamma Doppler differs from Doppler, why Emerald carries a premium and what to check before you pay.
Doppler phases explained: Ruby, Sapphire, Black Pearl and Phase 1 to 4
How the game decides a Doppler phase, what each of the seven looks like, why Ruby, Sapphire and Black Pearl price apart and how to verify a phase from the inspect link.