Nova | Currents (Minimal Wear)

Skin overview

The finish pairs dark and mid grey patches with pale silver bird shapes, giving the Nova a soft, overcast look. At Minimal Wear the print is practically identical to a fresh copy, with only tiny marks that are hard to spot outside the inspect screen. For this skin the grade is a sensible way to get the full pattern at a lower cost than the cleanest copies.

Item type: shotgun. Consumer Grade is the lowest tier of the rarity scale: the most common skins, most often used in trade-up contracts.

Hydrographic: the pattern is applied as a film over the metal; wear rubs it down to the base, starting with raised parts.

The remaining qualities of this skin: Factory New, Field-Tested, Well-Worn and Battle-Scarred.

Appearance in Minimal Wear

The whole gun is covered in a grayscale hydrographic print: dark charcoal and olive-grey patches overlaid with pale silver bird silhouettes. The birds are most visible on the receiver sides and the wide flat surface of the stock, while the long barrel shows a darker, more mottled section of the pattern.

Small specks may appear at the muzzle tip and on the sharpest ribs of the pump. The receiver, barrel body and stock keep the full pattern with clean bird outlines. At normal viewing distance in game it is hard to tell apart from Factory New. Only close inspection reveals the slight marks.

Minimal Wear wear: float 0.07–0.15

The float of Nova | Currents ranges from 0 to 0.65; the Minimal Wear quality covers 0.07–0.15 — 12% of this skin’s scale. The lower the float within the range, the cleaner the surface looks and the higher a copy is usually priced.

Where the skin comes from: collection and case

The skin’s collection is The Achroma Collection with 20 skins in total. It does not drop from a case: the collection has none — such skins come from operation drops, souvenir packages or the market.

Price by quality

Among 10 skins of the Nova in the Consumer Grade grade and this quality, this skin ranks 8th by price, counting from the dearest.

Souvenir version

There is also a the Souvenir version with tournament stickers.

Which stickers suit it

Silver, white, black and holo stickers suit the grayscale print and echo the silver birds. Placing them on the receiver keeps the bird pattern on the stock visible, and a single bright accent can work as a contrast against the monochrome finish.

What to check before buying

• Check where the float sits within the wear grade, since copies near the top of a range look noticeably cleaner than those near the bottom.
• Look at the muzzle, the pump ribs and the stock edges, as these lose print first.
• Make sure the birds on the receiver sides and the stock are intact, because they carry the whole design.
• On Souvenir copies, check the pre-applied stickers and whether they fit the grey colour scheme.

Who the Minimal Wear quality suits

• Players who want a look almost identical to Factory New without paying for the top grade.
• Sticker crafters, since the marks are too small to spoil a craft.
• Conclusion: the practical pick for a near-clean Nova.