CSGO player Sparkles spends $15,000 to get skin of his dreams
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive YouTuber Sparkles is known for doing a lot of questionable things just to entertain his followers.
This time, Sparkles decided to spend $15,000 to get his hands on the skin of his dreams. That skin is the StatTrak AK47 Fire Serpent in Factory New condition.
“I will be attempting the skin I have dreamed about since I first started playing this game and have tried to get and never been successful at. I’ve tried this multiple times…,” Sparkles began.
He showed how he had come across the skin before, but only in Minimal Wear condition.
“My dumbass didn’t realize that Factory New isn’t like other skins,” Sparkles said.
How did Sparkles pay $15K on a weapon skin?
To acquire the skin of his dreams, Sparkles began by trading up. This is an unpopular way of acquiring skins since players have to collect 10 weapon skins from the same collection and then exchange them for a better-graded weapon skin using a Trade-Up Contract.
This is often seen as a tedious process, as well as risky since all that work can result in a different skin than the one the player was hoping for. But Sparkles is no stranger to doing strange things in CSGO, so he seemed up for this particular challenge.
The StatTrak Fire Serpent in Factory New’s lowest possible float value is 0.06. The Minimal Wear version starts at 0.07, meaning there’s only a one percent chance of getting the much-desired Factory New Fire Serpent in a trade-up.
Sparkles acquired required skins with super low float values, an already shaky start. He then traded some lower-tier skins to get the required Classified items, including one Desert Eagle Hypnotic, six AWP Graphites, and three P2000 Ocean Foams.
“This is one I cannot afford to mess up whatsoever,” Sparkles said as he got ready to trade them for a rarer skin.
After failing to find the skin after seven 10% contracts, there was a 50/50 chance that Sparkles would be able to walk away with the skin of his dreams.
“The amount of money we just ripped in those seven contracts using 14 StatTrak Factory New classified items… I do not even want to think about it,” Sparkles said.
Sparkles even had to put a weapon skin from a different collection in his final contract, meaning there was only a 45% chance of a StatTrak Fire Serpent in Factory New.
“The weapon we have been dreaming about since we first started playing about… I can’t find it on any site. It’s so rare and so expensive. I generally have such a horrible, sinking feeling in my stomach right now,” Sparkles said before carefully choosing to proceed.
At this point, he would get either the skin of his dreams, or the Desert Eagle Golden Koi.
Luckily for Sparkles, it was indeed the StatTrak Fire Serpent in Factory New. His reaction said it all.
What is the StatTrak Fire Serpent in Factory New worth?
Sparkles ended up paying $15,000 to get the elusive skin. But is it worth that hefty of a price tag?
According to CS.MONEY, that exact skin is worth $7,431. While that’s definitely an expensive weapon skin, Sparkles seems to have spent more than double the Fire Serpent’s market value.
Sparkles definitely went a bit hard, but he did get the skin of his dreams. And he got to make a fun new video in doing so. Viewers should just be beware that this sort of buying and trading method isn’t always going to be the most efficient way to acquire a desired skin.
Olivia has worked in media ever since graduating from college, with her coverage ranging from traditional newspaper reporting to digital coverage of all things gaming, online betting, and nerd culture. She has traveled around the world pursuing that coverage, from the far coasts of the United States to the busy downtown core of Tokyo, Japan. Olivia’s favorite games include Overwatch and Super Smash Smash Bros, and she has been published at Esports Illustrated, Inven Global, EsportsInsider, Upcomer, and elsewhere.
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