xQc is no stranger to gambling on Twitch, and so making risky bets on CS:GO skins is just another day at the office for him – but even he couldn’t help but grimace at a devastating loss with a risky trade-up, worth around $6,000.
There are few ways to lose money quickly in gaming than to try to get lucky with CSGO skins. Of course, you can sit and open cases, which is usually a losing endeavor, or, if you’re a bit more advanced, you can try trade-ups.
Trade-up contracts in CS:GO allow you to swap 10 skins for one skin of a higher rarity. If you get lucky, the skin you receive could be worth more than the value of the ten you sacrificed.
xQc didn’t try just any trade-up though – he went big, hoping to land an AWP Dragon Lore, one of the most expensive skins in CS:GO.
xQc’s risky CS:GO trade-up goes wrong
In order to have a 10% chance of landing the Dragon Lore, Lengyel had to spend over $6,000 on the ten skins for the trade-up. These included an M4-A1s ‘Knight’ worth over $2,000, and an M4A4 Poseidon, worth around $1,400.
Only two outcomes of a possible six would be profit for xQc, while there was a 30% chance of getting a skin worth only $50.
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Undeterred, xQc pressed on on his June 27 stream, keen to land the Dragon Lore, with an estimated value of around $14,000. Unfortunately, he landed the $50 skin instead.
Of all the skins he could have been dropped, this was the 2nd worst, with another worth only $7. But, other options included AK and M4 skins worth over $2,500 – which would have softened the blow a bit.
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As with xQc’s other CS:GO skins exploits, the lesson here is that you’re very likely to lose money, and unless you’re earning top-level streamer money, the entertainment value probably isn’t worth it.
That’s not to say he hasn’t been lucky too though, in fact, despite the amount of money he’s spent, he’s probably had more than his fair share of luck with cases.