Marble Fade Patterns Explained

By the P2Trades editorial teamLast updated September 6, 2026prices refresh daily

Marble Fade is a three-colour gradient: red, blue and yellow, blended across the blade with the boundaries set by the item's pattern index. On most copies all three colours show. On a small number, the yellow is pushed off the visible side entirely, leaving only red and blue. The community calls those Fire & Ice, and on a Karambit the difference between a Fire & Ice and an ordinary copy with the same float is a multiple of the price, not a percentage.

The tiers

Tier	What it looks like	Price effect
Fire & Ice (FFI)	Only red and blue on the playside; no yellow at all	Large premium; on a Karambit, several times a normal copy
Fake FFI	Mostly red and blue with a thin sliver of yellow, usually near the tip	Modest premium, and only when honestly described as fake
Tri-colour, well balanced	All three colours in roughly even bands	Small premium; the look most people picture as Marble Fade
Yellow-heavy	Yellow dominates the playside	Slight discount; the least sought-after arrangement

The tiers are about the playside, the side you see holding the knife. Backside colours are nearly irrelevant to price. This is why two inspect screenshots of the same knife can tell different stories, and why you verify from the correct angle.

Fire & Ice by model

Fire & Ice is a Karambit phenomenon first. The Karambit's blade shape happens to let a handful of pattern indexes hide the yellow completely, and the community-maintained pattern lists name each of them. Pattern 412 is the best known and is treated as the top copy; a few others are accepted as true FFI, and a larger group is graded as fake because a small amount of yellow survives.

On other models the same idea applies with different pattern numbers and a smaller premium. Bayonet, Flip Knife, Gut Knife and the newer models each have their own recognised sets, and on Talon and Skeleton knives the FFI premium is real but far below the Karambit's. The Marble Fade gloves and the Marble Fade pistols do not have meaningful pattern tiers; there the price is set by float alone.

We deliberately do not publish a pattern list here. The lists change as the community re-grades borderline seeds, and a stale list is worse than none. Use the current community lists, and use them for what they are: a starting point that you confirm by looking at the actual item.

How to check a Marble Fade before you trade

Get the inspect link, not a screenshot. Screenshots are cropped and edited; our inspect link guide covers how to read the pattern from the link.
Read the pattern index and compare it against the current list for that model. If the seller claims FFI and the number is not on any list, it is not FFI, however it looks in their screenshot.
Look at the playside yourself. Inspect the item in game or in a 3D viewer, from the angle the knife is held. Any yellow on that side makes it a fake FFI at best.
Then check the float. Marble Fade caps at 0.08, so every copy is Factory New or Minimal Wear and the tier name tells you almost nothing. Within the range, lower is cleaner, and the top FFI copies with very low floats are priced as collectibles rather than as knives.

Common ways people get it wrong

Paying FFI money for a fake FFI.The gap between the two is the single largest pricing error on this finish. "Almost no yellow" is a fake, and fakes are worth a fraction of the real thing.
Grading from the backside.A knife that shows red and blue on the back and a yellow tip on the front is not Fire & Ice.
Assuming every model has the same premium. A Karambit FFI is a different market from a Gut Knife FFI. Price each model on its own.
Ignoring the tri-colour value. A well-balanced tri-colour with an even split is a small but real premium above a yellow-heavy copy, and it is where most of the affordable value on this finish sits.

Current Marble Fade prices

Every Marble Fade item in our catalogue, from most to least expensive, using the family's best normal price. These are reference prices for an average pattern; a confirmed Fire & Ice trades well above the figure shown, and a yellow-heavy copy slightly below it.

CS2 Specialist Gloves Marble Fade — Marble Fade — current market prices

CS2 Butterfly Knife Marble Fade — Marble Fade — current market prices

Is Fire & Ice worth paying for?

For a knife you will use, almost never: the yellow is invisible at the speed of a match, and the premium buys nothing you will notice. For a position, a confirmed top-tier FFI on a flagship model has historically held its value as well as anything in the game, because supply is fixed by the pattern list and cannot grow. The dangerous middle ground is a fake FFI bought at a real FFI price. If you are not sure which one you are looking at, you are not ready to pay for it, and the seller knows that better than you do.