The Death of Souvenir Packages: Valve Overhauls CS2 Majors
For over a decade, Counter-Strike majors relied on the same predictable system: buy a viewer pass, upgrade your tournament coin, and redeem random Souvenir Packages. But with the IEM Cologne 2026 Major update, Valve completely flipped the script.
Loot boxes and RNG-heavy souvenir containers are officially gone. In their place, Valve has introduced the Souvenir-O-Matic—a new system that puts total control into the hands of the players, letting you turn almost any skin from your existing inventory into a commemorative major souvenir.
How the Souvenir-O-Matic Works: Step-by-Step
Instead of opening a package and praying to the RNG gods for a good drop, you now provide the base weapon skin yourself. If you’ve ever wanted a Souvenir version of a skin that previously never existed in that quality, now is your chance.
Here is exactly how to craft your own souvenir skin in CS2:
Launch CS2 and open the Tournament Hub: Navigate to the IEM Cologne 2026 section.
Select a completed match: Pick the specific match and map history you want to commemorate.
Choose your skin: Select a normal, non-StatTrak weapon skin from your inventory. (Note: You must scrape off any existing stickers before proceeding).
Pick your MVP player: Select the player whose gold autograph sticker will be applied to the weapon.
Pay the token fee: Spend your Major tokens to finalize the process.
Your skin will instantly be converted to Souvenir quality and will feature four exclusive gold stickers: both competing team logos, the map logo, and your chosen player's autograph.
Warning: The conversion process is final. Any stickers previously applied to your weapon will be permanently deleted, and the new gold souvenir stickers cannot be removed to be sold or placed on other weapons.
Understanding Token Pricing and Rarity Discounts
Since Valve removed sticker capsules, tournament stickers are now purchased directly with tokens. The price of these stickers fluctuates dynamically based on community demand.
To prevent crafting a high-tier souvenir from costing hundreds of dollars, Valve applies a massive scaling discount based on the weapon's rarity tier.
Weapon Rarity Tier
Souvenir Crafting Discount
Minimum Token Cost
Covert (Red)
85% Discount
Varies by sticker demand
Classified (Pink)
89% Discount
Varies by sticker demand
Restricted (Purple)
93% Discount
Varies by sticker demand
Mil-Spec (Blue)
96% Discount
Varies by sticker demand
Industrial Grade (Light Blue)
98% Discount
~$4.00 minimum equivalent
Consumer Grade (Grey)
99% Discount
~$4.00 minimum equivalent
The Market Shock: Souvenirs Can Now Be Traded Up
The Souvenir-O-Matic isn't the only structural shakeup in this update. For the first time in Counter-Strike history, Souvenir items can now be used in Trade-Up Contracts.
You can mix and match your old or unwanted souvenirs with normal skins to trade up for a higher-tier weapon. However, there is a massive catch you need to know before risking your inventory:
How Souvenir Trade-Ups Behave
Attribute Stripping: When you use a souvenir skin in a trade-up, it loses all souvenir attributes. The resulting skin will always be a normal quality skin one tier higher.
The Stickers Disappear: The gold logos and player autographs from the original souvenir skin are permanently destroyed in the contract.
Market Impact: This has caused an immediate shift in the Steam Community Market. Historically cheap, low-tier souvenirs (which were previously useless junk) are jumping in price because they can now be used as trade-up material. Conversely, some rare high-tier normal skins may see price drops due to a massive influx of new trade-up inputs.
Make sure to check our internal CS2 Skin Market Hub to track live pricing changes before committing your high-value items to a contract.
Unlocking Tokens via the IEM Cologne 2026 Viewer Pass
If you are wondering how to stock up on tokens for crafting, your best bet is still the traditional Viewer Pass. Activating the pass grants you access to the Pick'Em challenge and an upgradeable Challenge Coin.
Each time you upgrade your coin (from Bronze up to Diamond), you will be awarded 300 Major tokens. Hitting Diamond across the event gives you a total of 900 tokens to blow on custom sticker purchases or Souvenir-O-Matic crafts. If you run out, extra tokens can be bought directly through the in-game shop menu.
Counter-Strike 2 Game UpdatesJuly 9, 2026
CS2 Season 5: Cache Returns, Armory Expands & Bombs Reworked
CS2 Season 5 introduces Cache, a new bomb damage system, fresh Armory collections, community maps, and several gameplay improvements.
