Valve has introduced a major update for IEM Cologne 2026, completely changing the system of tournament items and stickers in Counter-Strike 2. Alongside the launch of the Major Hub in-game, Viewer Passes, Pick’Em Challenge, and new ways to obtain souvenir items have been added.
The biggest change is the complete removal of traditional sticker capsules. Players can now directly purchase any stickers using special tokens, with prices determined by community demand. In addition, Valve has introduced a price protection system: if the price of a sticker drops by more than 25 tokens within 24 hours of purchase, the difference is automatically refunded to the buyer.
A Viewer Pass featuring the Cologne 2026 coin has also been added. Players will be able to upgrade it by completing Pick’Em Challenge tasks and earning rewards for correct tournament predictions.
Another major addition is the Souvenir-O-Matic system. It allows players to turn almost any skin into a souvenir item. To do this, they must select a Major match and a specific player, after which the weapon will receive gold team stickers, the chosen player’s autograph, and map markings. Before creating the souvenir, players can preview the final result. If the weapon already had stickers, they will be permanently removed during the conversion process.
Valve has also allowed souvenir items to be used in trade-up contracts. After such a trade, all souvenir attributes, including gold stickers and autographs, are removed, and the player receives a regular item of higher quality.
The changes also affect the financial model of team support. From now on, 50% of revenue from tournament item sales will be distributed among organizers, teams, and players. The size of payouts will depend directly on a team’s performance at the Major, and until the end of the tournament — on its position in the VRS seeding.
Valve explained that the removal of capsules is not only meant to let players directly buy the stickers they want. According to the developers, in some regions of the world users cannot purchase sticker capsules, so the new system is designed to make tournament items accessible to all players. Sticker prices will be dynamic and identical for all players worldwide. After a large number of purchases, the system will automatically recalculate sticker prices based on demand: popular stickers will become more expensive, while less popular ones will become cheaper.
Valve also clarified how tokens work. They cannot be purchased in advance — tokens are only bought during sticker or souvenir purchases. The minimum purchase is 100 tokens, equivalent to $0.99.
The developers noted that tokens are necessary to correctly measure real sticker demand. If stickers could be directly purchased and refunded for money, demand statistics could become distorted.
In the Pick’Em Challenge, each upgrade of the Cologne 2026 coin — from bronze to silver, gold, and diamond — will grant players 300 additional tokens, which can be spent on stickers or souvenirs.
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