Counter Strike 2 
You’re here because you’ve heard something about AK Case Hardened 661 skins, or you already know about them, perhaps familiar with the Case Hardeneds too, but asking yourself, what the hell is 661? How is there a number next to the skin, and it is not float?
There are many variables when it comes to CS skins. Some of them even have patterns where not only does wear dictate how the skin looks, but, in cases like this, there are also numbered patterns. With Case Hardened, every pattern has its own look. But what is so special about the pattern 661?
AK-47 Case Hardened Blue Gem patterns: why 661 is the king
Blue Gem is another term that is often talked about when it comes to AK Case Hardened 661 skins: Karambit Blue Gem, Blue Gem AK-47 Case Hardened… The meaning behind it is literal – the skin must really be BLUE. Case Hardened mainly comes in gold and blue colors. The more blue there is than gold, the more “Blue Gemmy” it is.
The pattern 661, though, you guessed it, has enough blue to hold up the sky. It is the smoothest blue pattern, as on the play side of the skin, it is all blue except for a little line of gold. And because of this, the legendary 661 is also called the Scar pattern. There are also other patterns with Scars, but we don’t discuss them here.
661 is not the only blue pattern. There are tiers of patterns, not as good as 661, but still showing off a hefty amount of blue. People, of course, are ready to overpay for them.
Here is a table for it. There is definitely more than one pattern on each tier, making these skins easier to get.
| Tier | Pattern |
|---|---|
| #1 | 661 |
| Rank 1 | 151, 168, 179, 321, 387, 555, 592, 670, 760, 809, 955 |
| Rank 2 | 4, 13, 28, 32, 65, 74, 81, 82, 92, 103, 122, 139, 147, 172, 189, 205, 228, 256, 323, 341, 426, 430, 442, 463, 479, 512, 525, 526, 532, 541, 571, 578, 605, 617, 627, 695, 698, 708, 713, 750, 752, 791, 828, 844, 868, 887, 888, 892, 903, 905, 922, 950, 969, 978, 996 |
| Rank 3 | 34, 112, 278, 310, 312, 363, 381, 413, 428, 429, 450, 519, 557, 586, 610, 647, 685, 689, 690, 733, 754, 770, 819, 823, 856, 862, 872, 878, 935, 1000 |
The economy behind Blue Gem patterns in CS2
Let’s talk numbers. The CS economy is the largest of any video game, recently reaching a $5 billion valuation. There are over 40 third-party CS2 markets where players can trade skins for cash or cash for skins. Skins in CS have been brewing for a while now, and the $1 million you keep hearing about is not just an estimate. The last AK Case Hardened 661 in Factory New condition, along with StatTrak, sold for exactly $1M in 2024, which means the price was justified.
A digital item was sold for $1 million. We never thought such a day would come. Like, before this, what would be the answer for “the most expensive video game item”? Probably some Star Citizen mega-giga ship you heard about from an infographic on Reddit, which would be what? $5,000? Chump change in the CS economy, are we right?
How rare is Pattern 661?
If you’re aiming for an AK-47 Case Hardened 661, it’s not just luck; it’s a numbers game. Such rare skins are not something that you can just buy from the game devs. It comes down to chance whether you can unbox it or do a skin trade up to it.
Similarly to the Karambit Blue Gem, it is the hardest possible combination to pull off. You need not only to be lucky enough to get the skin, but also to land on that one lucky number pattern: 661… Out of 1000 possible patterns! Oh, and to get the max win, it also needs to be Factory New and StatTrak. Easy, right?
1 in 21 million is the chance to get it from a Weapon Case. Of course, the “hacky” way is to get it through trade-ups, as the odds drop to 1 in 28,000.
Over time, such trade-ups got really pricey. To get the best possible odds, you need 10 Restricted tier (purple) skins from the same collection as Case Hardened, with the highest floats, and they need to be StatTrak. One of these costs at least $100 right now, so you need to invest at least $100 to hit the correct 50/50 (between AK Case Hardened and Desert Eagle Hypnotic) AND the 1/1000 pattern.
Big numbers, crazy numbers, so how many 661s are actually out there in existence?
Pattern 661 AK Case Hardened: full inventory breakdown
| Type | Amount |
|---|---|
| StatTrak Factory New | 1 |
| StatTrak Minimal Wear | 4 |
| StatTrak Field Tested | 4 |
| StatTrak Well Worn | 3 |
| StatTrak Battle Scarred | 3 |
| Factory New | 11 |
| Minimal Wear | 45 |
| Field Tested | 48 |
| Well Worn | 16 |
| Battle Scarred | 14 |
| TOTAL | 149 |
How pattern 661 became the holy grail of CS2 skins
A total of 149 publicly known pattern 661 Case Hardeneds exist, with only one at the top of the pyramid worth $1 million, crafted in 2024, 10 years after skins started being a thing. Sounds like some sort of made-up fairy tale, “1 of 1”…
The crazy thing is that this is not some sort of a cap put up by developers. Someone can open another any minute. The whole world might erupt when that happens (you will probably see it randomly on TikTok). And that would be an insane sight. Not sure about the price, though.
If the quantity somehow doubles, the skin surely won’t be worth $1 million. It should be 500K, right? Unsure how these numbers work, but even if you unbox one of the “ordinary” 661s, if you take the worst possible Battle Scarred 661, you’re still looking at a five-digit payout.
An OG CS2/GO YouTuber, Anomaly, unboxed the second rarest possible version, StatTrak Minimal Wear, back in 2016, where he valued the skin at around $10,000 at that time and sold it for $37,000.
Mind you, that was a decade ago. Who on Earth could have thought that the price would be 70x after 10 years? Even the biggest crypto pumps can’t beat such numbers. The skin is still 1 of 4, keeps multiplying in price, and Anomaly must be delighted to see what he could have made if he had held it for 10 years. In his infamous video, he said he could finally buy his dad an iMac.
What’s next after pattern 661? The future of Blue Gem skins
That is it. This is the full lore of the legendary AK Case Hardened 661 skin. Crazy world that we live in, where you see people throwing not only thousands, but now millions into digital assets because they have that much more BLUE. Crazy numbers, demand, cost, and most importantly, passion are involved in making something like this a reality.
It is impressive the times that we are living in, and honestly, we can’t wait to see what comes next. Is there a pattern that can knock out the 661? Will there ever be something bigger than this, and what is it? Time will tell. We hope it is the classic Huntsman pattern.
