We rummaged through the Workshop yet again to pick five skins that could be included in the CS2021 Case. Spoiler alert: the mission was almost impossible, but the CS.MONEY Blog did pull it off. Check it out for yourself.
AK-47 Blood Moon
One of the biggest skin-related events this year was the Dreams & Nightmares contest. The contest lasted over several months, and, according to Valve, saw over 15,000 entries. As a result, seventeen designs selected by the company went into a special case, which will soon drop in the game.
The AK-47 Blood Moon, one of the community’s favorites in the contest, isn’t part of this case. Too bad: the finish is badass. We chose its second, improved version, the one that was a contest entry. The color palette consists of red and black, with the fore-end and buttstock of the rifle are painted solid black. In the center of the composition are a black raven and a bright moon circle.
Even though its color scheme is very classic and the drawing rather simple, the skin definitely deserves a slot in the game. It could become the perfect doppelgänger of the already existing AK-47 Aquamarine Revenge.
Tec-9 Syringe
When we were selecting the best skins from the Workshop last year, we paid much attention to volume-based tricks. More than half of the finishes sought to deceive the player’s perception at the time, deceiving them with pseudo-3D effects. For this selection, we decided to focus on one theme, too: the use of weapons’ shape.
Last year, one of the most exciting skins in this regard was the Tec-9 Syringe. Its creator, Nero, masterfully used the rounded shape of the gun’s receiver, turning it into a CS:GO syringe. It’s an unsophisticated design, but the quality of the work and the idea behind it never fail to impress.
FAMAS The Thing in a glass vessel
Another skin that curiously plays around with the shape of the French FAMAS rifle. The artist supremat interpreted the layout of the bullpup gun in a most captivating fashion and turned it into a glass spider prison. The result is an incredibly creepy weapon finish.
The spider is housed in the buttstock and tightly sealed, but its furry paws are seen in the magazine and stretch all over the rifle. Dropping a skin like that on the ground would probably scare a couple of impressionable arachnophobes. In addition to the spider, the skin is decorated with several stickers and warning signs, all extremely laconic yet stylish details contributing to the brilliancy of the design.
We look forward to an updated version of the skin. So far, the drawing on FAMAS The Thing in a glass vessel looks flat, unfortunately. It lacks depth characteristic of, say, the Glock-18 Clear Polymer. We hope that the artist is already completing his work and will show the new version soon enough.
USP-S Smoking Gun
In Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, guns have one interesting feature: their barrels emit smoke after firing. Just like in some cool action movies or in real life. But what could make a smoking gun even cooler? A visual metaphor, of course!
NeoDecoration and Diva Dan turned the ordinary USP-S into a lighter, and its silencer into a burning cigarette. They didn’t forget about the magazines, which became fuel capsules for the lighter. An amazing job, just what the doctor ordered for a game that’s all about shooting and explosions.
M4A1-S Soul Thief
Another entry from the Dreams & Nightmares contest. In his work, the artist BORIS_theCHEATER expertly used the looks of the M4A1-S rifle. The drawing consists of two parts — literally.
One part is drawn on the rifle: it’s a monster stretching out its paw and pulling with it the soul essence from the hapless victim trapped in the magazine. The second part of the drawing is the aforementioned victim. In one round, the M4A1-S Soul Thief monster could well devour a couple of such victims! The transition of the monster’s claw into the trigger deserves an individual mention. A fascinating detail that brings a further 100 credit points to the skin.
Thousands of skins pop up in the Workshop every year. The selection is a regular embarrassment of riches, and it’s almost impossible to choose the best finishes. If you liked our selection of weapon skins, check out our top 5 Workshop highlights in November. Or get some inspiration for your inventory from our snake loadout.
