I returned to more active trading and market watching in 2025 after a few years' break. To this day, my collection includes: genuine pins from all series (including unopened blind boxes, which I am one of the few to possess), as well as capsules and stickers from Katowice 2014 and 2015. I also have a very modest collection of removed games gifts, including Steam Greenlight and TF2. These are items I’m keeping long-term, but I do have a few duplicates that I’d be happy to trade.



• Full set of physical pins from the first series
• Blindboxes from the first and third series
• Single codes and pins from all series (ask for availability)

• EMS Katowice 2014 Challengers
• Sticker | Titan | Katowice 2014
• Sticker | Reason Gaming | Katowice 2014
• Sticker | iBUYPOWER | Katowice 2014
• Sticker | Team LDLC .com | Katowice 2014
• Sticker | Team Dignitas | Katowice 2014
• Sticker | Clan-Mystik | Katowice 2014
• ESL One Katowice 2015 Challengers (Holo/Foil)
• ESL One Katowice 2015 Legends (Holo/Foil)

...and others, as I do not update the list regularly.

Multiplayer games with item trading, loot mechanics, drops, and duplicate items naturally create the need for a secondary market. Valve addressed this brilliantly, becoming a sort of precursor to NFTs, but its later decisions have been consistently degrading the player economy and market for years.

That said, I believe some assets — especially those with limited supply or burn mechanics (e.g., pins that can no longer be purchased and are gradually disappearing, discontinued capsules that vanish when opened, and stickers that can be permanently applied) —can still be a great alternative "investment".

In 2013, after years of playing the non-Steam version of CS 1.6, I got interested in CS:GO thanks to my friends. It was also the time when Valve introduced the Steam Market, allowing the trading of in-game items. I quickly discovered that the secondary market and speculation on it became just as, if not more, attractive and fascinating to me than the game itself. Of course, within the limits allowed by Steam's policy, I am not referring to any profit-driven goals.

At the beginning of 2015, during the ESL One: Katowice 2015 event, the original pins from the first series were released to the public for the first time. According to my theory, which can be found on my profile, I saw this as a unique opportunity for a collector. After all, how often does a local (and only 3-day long) distribution of in-game items, for a game played by the whole world, happen? I set myself the goal of collecting as many pins as possible, both from first and second-hand sources. In this way, between 2015 and 2017, I became a “pin mogul.” I completed hundreds of trades, sales, and acted as a middleman (MM). During this time, I also managed the CSGOpins .com website. Part of my collection, as well as duplicates, I started exchanging for skins, which I later traded for capsules, cases, or stickers that I saw potential in. This is how my journey of collecting Katowice 2014 stickers began.

For several years, my main account ranked among the top 50 inventories in CS:GO, with its value exceeding €110,000 [source: csgobackpack, inventory clash]. Unfortunately, a few unforeseen events forced me to move my most valuable collection (Katowice 2014 and 2015) to multiple backup accounts, on which I no longer actively trade. In 2018, I lost several Katowice 2014 stickers that were blocked on opskins bot account. Then, in 2024, I was banned on my second account, where I mainly stored capsules from Katowice 2015, which at the time were valued at around €50,000.



• September 30, 2010 - TF2 Mann Co. Supply Crate obtainable through the item drop system.
• August 14, 2013 – CS:GO "Arms Deal" update, introduction of cases and skins.
• October 23, 2013 - Valve launched Steam Market.
• October 29, 2013 – Introduction of the first stickers, souvenir cases for the EMS One Katowice 2014 Major, and Genuine pins.
• May 31, 2016 - Non-genuine Collectible Pins capsule can be purchased in-game.
• March 29, 2018 - Valve decided to introduce the infamous 7-day trade lock on CS items.
• June 21, 2018 - Valve locks OPSkins Steam accounts.
• May 30, 2017 – Removal of Steam Gifts as tradable items.
• March 22, 2023 – Announcement of Counter-Strike 2, which led to an increase in skin prices.
• September 27, 2023 – Official release of CS2.