What Are The Grades Of CS2/CSGO Stickers?

However, there are sticker grades that can affect a sticker’s price and details. In this article, we’ll go over all the sticker qualities and types, so you have a good understanding of which ones to purchase and which to not.

Sticker rarity categories work very similarly to weapon skins. There are a total of five different sticker rarities that are paired by CSGO sticker colors the same as you’d see on Counter-Strike weapon cases. Let’s go over each sticker rarity in the game.

High Grade Stickers

Though the name mentions the words “High Grade,” this sticker rarity is actually the lowest among all. Similar to Mil-Spec weapon skins, High Grade stickers are assigned to the blue color, implying that they are among the most common stickers in the game. Almost all High Grade stickers do not have any additional details added onto them, such as cool effects.

Remarkable Stickers

Moving up a tier, we have the Remarkable stickers, the second-lowest sticker rarity. Remarkable stickers are colored purple, making them the equivalent of Restricted weapon skins. Stickers in this category start getting more detailed and appealing. Holo and Glitter stickers can be found in the Remarkable category, which is why the famous Titan Holo Katowice 2014 sticker is under this rarity.

Exotic Stickers

The second-highest sticker rarity is reserved for Exotic stickers. Stickers in the Exotic category are marked pink, which is the same as the Classified rarity in weapon skins. You can expect to see vibrant and detailed designs for stickers under this category. You can still find Holo stickers in the Exotic rarity, but you will also begin seeing Foil stickers, which are relatively expensive.

Extraordinary Stickers

Extraordinary stickers are essentially the highest sticker rarity in the game, as the next one isn’t a “real” rarity. Stickers in this category are in red color, which is the same as Covert weapon skins. Most stickers in this category are player signature stickers. You will only see Golden and Lenticular stickers in this category, which will cost you a decent amount of money.

Contraband Stickers

The final sticker rarity is the Contraband category, which only has one sticker inside it: the Howling Dawn sticker. Similar to the M4A4 | Howl, the Howling Dawn sticker was removed from the game entirely due to the infamous art theft scandal. You can still purchase Howling Dawn stickers from other players, but you can no longer unbox them anymore.

Aside from sticker rarities, there are also different types of stickers. These types of stickers can enhance a sticker’s visual appearance, adding additional details such as glitter, foil, and other cool additions.

Paper Stickers

Stickers under the paper type do not have any additions, and are essentially the default version. They are basically stickers without extra visual effects, and are usually found in the lowest rarity category. However, some paper stickers have small glossy effects that give a little push to help them stand out, but that’s pretty much it.

Glitter Stickers

As the name suggests, Glitter stickers are regular paper stickers that are sprinkled with glitter effects that create semi-holographic appearances. Glitter stickers can react a little bit to bright lights, which can be seen when you inspect the sticker under the sunlight. Still, Glitter stickers are paper-backed, so there are no additional details other than the glitter itself.

Holo Stickers

This is where things start getting interesting. Holo stickers are paper stickers that have an additional layer to show holographic effects when inspected. These stickers have the glossiness of Foil stickers, but are missing the texture leveling feature that gives it a clean look. Some of the most expensive stickers in the game are Holo stickers.

Foil Stickers

Just like in real life, the main selling point of Foil stickers is that they are shiny. Foil stickers have additional texture details that help them reflect light in a very appealing manner. The amount of light reflected depends on how bright the area is. If you look carefully, Foil stickers can also display a 3D effect if the lighting is correct.

Gold Stickers

Gold stickers were specifically made for player autographs, so you won’t find any non-professional stickers with this design type. You can probably tell already, but Gold stickers simply make stickers appear, well, golden… You will also notice that Souvenir skins will have these stickers automatically applied to them when unboxed from a package.

Lenticular Stickers

The highest tier of sticker type is the Lenticular sticker. Lenticular stickers are very unique, as they are shiny and have illusion-like traits that allow them to show different images of the sticker from certain angles. In other words, Lenticular stickers move. Unfortunately, there aren’t too many of these stickers released in the game yet, so choices are limited.

It is true that stickers go up in price the higher their grades are, but this is only applicable in general. There are special cases where Paper stickers are 10x the price of other Foil or Holo stickers.

The most detrimental factor when considering sticker prices is what collection the sticker comes from, similar to how weapon skins work.

Stickers are only obtainable through sticker capsules, and each capsule is dedicated to a specific collection. Some sticker capsules are generally more expensive than others, so the stickers inside them automatically become pricier as well.

A great example would be the Paper stickers from the Katowice 2014 collection. The lowest grade of stickers from the Katowice 2014 collections can reach up to $2,000+, even though they are in paper condition.

So, you should always conduct research on which collection the sticker comes from, and how expensive the capsule costs.

There are three primary sources where stickers are designed and then released into the game.

Tournament Stickers

Everyone probably knows this already, but the majority of Counter-Strike stickers are related to the esports scene, where players and teams would be immortalized in the game by having their own custom stickers.

Counter-Strike Majors are the most prestigious tournaments in the game, and are directly hosted and run by Valve itself. When a team qualifies for a Valve Major, each player on the team will create their own signature, which will be added into the game through sticker capsules.

Additionally, the team will also have its own sticker in the form of the organization’s logo. You have probably heard of the Katowice 2024 Sticker Capsules, which cost over $20,000 to purchase today. The Titan and iBUYPOWER Holo stickers are the best examples of team stickers.

The prices of signature stickers generally revolve around the popularity of the player, or if the player’s name posts some sort of value. For example, s1mple stickers are extremely expensive because he is the greatest player to ever touch Counter-Strike, and everyone wants his signature on their AWP.

However, there are also player stickers that provide comedic value, such as Australian player DickStacy’s sticker. When he qualified for a Major, he made his signature spell out “D*CK” in capital letters, making it a very popular sticker that players use for memes.

Workshop Stickers

Valve is known for taking an interest in designs created by their very own community members. Some of the most popular Counter-Strike weapon skins were designed by workshop artists, instead of Valve themselves.

This system is also applied in the creation of stickers. Members of the Counter-Strike community can design their own stickers and submit them to the Community Workshop. Other Counter-Strike players can visit the Workshop and vote for sticker creations they want to see in the game.

For example, popular YouTuber Sparkles designed his own “Ninja Defuse” sticker, because it used to be his thing in the early years of Global Offensive. So, he created his own sticker, submitted it to the Workshop, and Valve eventually added it to the game.

The creators of a sticker will receive a cut of the revenue Valve received from the sticker collection or the individual sticker. Most of the time, these stickers will be released as a part of a “Community Sticker Capsules” collection, where they are bunched with other community-made stickers.

Operation Stickers

Obviously, Valve is also responsible for making and releasing their own stickers into the game. Nowadays, players can expect to see new Valve-created stickers every time a new Operation kicks in.

Operations in Counter-Strike are essentially special events that come around once every few years. Operations are pretty much a DLC that provides players with additional content such as new maps, missions, game modes, skins, and also stickers.

A new sticker capsule is always released alongside an Operation. You will expect to see the logo of the Operation on some of the stickers in the capsule, while the rest are just stickers made by the Valve team.