Mac-10 Case Hardened Patterns

The release of Five-Seven and AK-47 Case Hardened skins in 2013 signified the start of a new era for CS skins. A pretty common way of hardening metal in real life striked a sweet spot in the hearts of the game’s community, with the new pattern index system ensuring that no two finish styles were the same.

While Case Hardened skins were reserved mainly for knife skins, in 2021, Valve decided to add one more gun to this line, releasing the much-coveted CS2 Mac-10 Blue Gems. The Dust 2 Collection became the first to include this skin, but then Valve also added it to the Dust 2 Souvenir Packages on the following Majors: Stockholm 2021, Antwerp 2022, and Rio 2022.

With a thousand variations of yellow-blue-purple dye proportion on the weapon’s surface, the CS community quickly reached the consensus that the best Mac-10 Case Hardened patterns are the copies with the ocean blue dominating the color palette. As with other Case Hardened skins, those are called “Blue Gems” to distinguish them from the less valuable regular patterns.

What Is the Difference Between Mac-10 Case Hardened Patterns?

The market value of a CS2 skin typically depends on the weapon’s float index, a number assigned to a gun as it is dropped or unboxed. Of course, the skins with lower float (which means less visible wear) cost more, while more tattered copies are cheaper.

However, one additional unchangeable parameter of every CS weapon is a pattern, which influences an appearance. For most skins, the pattern index isn’t such a big deal, but Case Hardened is an exemption to this rule.

There are thousands of Mac-10 Case Hardened patterns, each one looking different, and those with more than half of the surface painted in azure are considered Blue Gems. The Counter-Strike community went even further and divided Blue Gems into four tiers, depending on the amount of blue hues on the surface:

1. Tier 1—more than 90%;
2. Tier 2—80% to 90%;
3. Tier 3—65% to 80%;
4. Tier 4—50% to 65%.

However, that is more a rule of thumb than actual reality. A more practical and definite way to navigate Mac-10 Blue Gem patterns is to consult the official list.

Of course, the first tier is the most elite one, with almost all the gun’s surface being azure, which can easily raise the price for such a Mac-10 to a few thousand dollars. Tier-4 SMGs, on the other hand, aren’t as visually impressive, so they cost much less. However, let’s review the Mac-10 Case Hardened Blue Gem price variations in more detail, and see what each rank looks like.

Mac-10 Case Hardened Groups

Let’s take a closer look at how Mac-10 Case Hardened Blue Gem patterns look and what prices you can expect at each tier.

1 – Tier Mac-10 Case Hardened Patterns (Blue Gem)

Obviously, the best Mac-10 Case Hardened pattern can be found in the first tier of Blue Gems. Those skins have blues on both sides of the weapon: both the one you see during play and the one visible during the inspection animation.

The following image is a Factory New Mac-10 with pattern #667. As you can see, there are some non-blue dyes on both sides of this gun, and maybe it doesn’t even deserve the name of this elite seed type. Still, it will cost you at least $1,500 on popular  skin trading platforms.

The next Blue Gem (#406)is also far from perfect, having plenty of gold on one of its sides. Of course, blues still dominate the palate and are slightly darker than for the 667th pattern, with the purple spots a feature of this pattern. This FN copy is way cheaper — only $500, which looks like a reasonable offer for Blue Gem hunters.

2 – Tier Patterns

It’s always hard to find a clear distinction between tier one and two patterns in this skin family, and the Mac-10 Case Hardened Blue Gem is another confirmation of this rule. For instance, the following #972 has as much blue on both sides as the top patterns, but still ends up in Tier 2.

Another representative of the second tier, pattern #807, is also quite unique. Both sides of the upper casing are blue, while the lower parts are yellow with symmetrical purple spots on the back of the gun’s butt. This feature raises the value of the skin exponentially, making it even more expensive than some Tier 1s.

3-4 – Tier Patterns

Tier 3 and 4 Blue Gems also have a few important aspects we should mention. For example, this Battle-Scarred #831 has almost the same amount of blue as the previous examples. At the same time, a crucial float of 0.67 makes it way less attractive, and even $200 feels like a bit too much for this Mac-10.

More on the topic of overpriced Blue Gems, the owner of this #295 has set a price of $1,800 on one of the secondary market platforms. Again, it’s really hard to tell why Mac-10 Blue Gem prices can fluctuate so much within a single tier. There aren’t just enough copies on the market to have confirmed prices for every pattern. In this case, we believe that the skin barely justifies such a high cost, as there is plenty of yellow on its lower part.

The lowest grade of Blue Gems can be even more tricky, as some of the patterns found here are quite uninspiring to look at. For instance, pattern #931 definitely has less than 50% of its surface painted in blue, but the owner relies on the table above and sells his copy for $195. That is why we always insist on reviewing guns and skins in the game before buying them!

At the same time, tier-4’s bad reputation hides some great patterns, like this #367. One of its sides is almost entirely blue, but the other pushes the price down. $199 remains a reasonable cost for what you’ll get.

Conclusion

As with other rare shooting weapons with a Case Hardened finish, seeking an ideal Mac-10 Blue Gem pattern can be challenging. You should always inspect the skin in the game, as some patterns are overrated and don’t deserve their elite status. At the same time, looking at only tier 1s and 2s can be a mistake, as some patterns from 3 and 4 can look just as cool for a much more reasonable price.