Souvenir M249 | Nebula Crusader (Battle-Scarred)

Skin overview

Battle-Scarred is the roughest version of the arcade-themed M249, where large parts of the printed artwork are worn down to bare material. The red stock and dark receiver remain as colour blocks, and fragments of the lettering and character art show through the damage. It is the cheapest way to own the skin and has its own beaten-cabinet character.

Item type: machinegun. Restricted sits in the middle of the rarity scale: noticeably rarer than Mil-Spec, yet not truly rare.

Gunsmith: several techniques combined on one item; some parts rub off, others only dull.

The remaining qualities of this skin: Factory New, Minimal Wear, Field-Tested and Well-Worn. The same quality also exists as the StatTrak™ version.

Appearance in Battle-Scarred

The receiver is dark navy with a cabinet-style art panel carrying yellow title lettering, a green figure and a round orange emblem. The box magazine is the centrepiece, painted like a game cover with a red-haired pilot portrait, bold yellow and orange text and a glossy, slightly iridescent sheen.

Large areas of the artwork are worn away, especially on the magazine box and the receiver, exposing bare material underneath. The stock and handguard carry heavy chipping along edges and raised parts. In game the gun reads as blocks of red and dark blue with broken fragments of the original print.

Battle-Scarred wear: float 0.45–1

The whole float range of Souvenir M249 | Nebula Crusader is 0–1; Battle-Scarred takes the 0.45–1 segment (55% of the scale). The lower the float within the range, the cleaner the surface looks and the higher a copy is usually priced.

Origin of the skin

Souvenir M249 | Nebula Crusader belongs to The Shadow Collection, which holds 16 skins.

It drops from Shadow Case (on sale since Sep 15, 2015).

Souvenir version

This is the Souvenir version: such copies dropped to tournament viewers in souvenir packages; the team stickers and signatures on them cannot be removed or chosen. Souvenir items never carry StatTrak™. There is also the regular version without tournament stickers.

Which stickers suit it

Retro, pixel-style or comic stickers fit the arcade cabinet theme best. Yellow, red and orange accents echo the title lettering, and placing them on the dark receiver area away from the art panel keeps the main graphic readable.

What to check before buying

• Check the magazine box in inspect, since its corners and printed cover show wear before other parts.
• Look at where the float sits within the wear grade, as copies near the cleaner end keep the lettering noticeably sharper.
• Make sure any applied stickers do not cover the receiver art panel if you want the arcade theme to stay visible.
• If a name tag or StatTrak counter matters to you, confirm it on the specific copy before buying.

Who should buy Battle-Scarred

• Budget entry players who want the skin at the lowest step.
• Owners who enjoy a heavily beaten, worn-down cabinet aesthetic.
• The entry point for those who care more about owning it than about clean art.