CS2 trading cards on Steam do not drop for playtime: Counter-Strike 2 is free to play, and for free games Steam grants cards for in-game purchases. You can buy the missing cards in a set on the Steam Community Market for a few cents or trade for them, and a complete set crafts into a profile badge, Steam XP and random backgrounds and emoticons. Below is how the cards work, which types exist and how to craft a badge.
Steam trading cards were introduced back in 2013 and have been redesigned once since. Valve redrew the designs for everyone, so the first version cannot be found today. This is what it looked like.
The current version is more restrained but still looks good.
The Counter-Strike cards are the same ones CS:GO had: CS2 shipped as an update to the same Steam app, so the old sets and badges carried over.
The main limitation is that only part of a set drops for free, roughly half of the cards, and which ones is random. To complete the set, you have to buy the rest on the market. Regular Counter-Strike cards cost a few cents, so a full set is cheap.
The second free option is trading with friends or other players, as long as each of you has cards the other is missing. When trading, keep the advice from our guide on protecting your inventory from scammers in mind.
A complete set crafts a level 1 badge and adds 100 Steam XP. You can upgrade the badge up to level 5, and each level drops a random emoticon or profile background into your inventory. There is also a foil badge, crafted from foil cards; its cost depends on current market prices.
Card sets have no practical value: they decorate your profile and raise your Steam level. Still, backgrounds and emoticons are an easy way to make the default dark blue profile look less plain.
How to Get Trading Cards on Steam
In paid games, Steam grants cards for playtime, and in recent years usually after about 2 hours in the purchased game. Previously, Steam worked according to a different scenario:
during the first two hours;
immediately after launch.
So you cannot get cards in a paid game quickly: play for about two hours first, then check your inventory. As with Counter-Strike, only half of the set drops; the rest has to be bought or traded.
Important: re-downloading and replaying the game will not give anything — the system will think that the reward has already been issued.
In free-to-play games, CS2 included, cards drop only after in-game purchases, at roughly 1 card per $9 spent in the game. For one example of an in-game purchase, see how much Prime costs in CS2.
What Types of Cards Are There
Now that we have covered how to get cards in Steam games, let's look at the types. These items come in two versions:
regular;
foil.
Foil cards have a shiny gray background and drop far less often than regular ones, at roughly a 1% chance.
But don't think they are extremely expensive. Counter-Strike foil cards are fairly common. There are exceptions, though: the Uranium Mine card from the post-apocalyptic sandbox Apex War has been listed for very large sums on the market.
Another type is booster packs. They drop rarely but contain 3 cards at once. You can open one or sell it to a collector as is.
How to Craft a Badge from Cards
As mentioned above, Counter-Strike, like other games, has 5 levels of the regular badge and one foil badge. To craft level 1, you need one of each card in the set (Counter-Strike has 5). When ready, a "Craft Badge" button will appear.
For level 2, repeat the process, but this time you have to buy or trade for the cards, since the game drops nothing more. Going straight to level 5 takes 5 copies of each card; at a few cents per card, that usually comes to a couple of dollars or less.
Important: the foil badge can only be crafted from foil cards.
Emoticons and backgrounds are granted randomly, sometimes in pairs. If you want a specific one, it is easier to buy it on the Steam Community Market, where such items usually cost a few cents. You can fund those purchases with skins: see how to top up your Steam Wallet with skins through LIS-SKINS.
A nice bonus of crafting is a Steam store discount coupon. It looks like this:
One more detail: each time someone crafts a badge, Steam generates a booster pack for the same game and sends it to a random eligible player.
For every 10 account levels, Steam grants one more profile showcase slot, where you can display badges, achievements or favorite items. It does not affect the game, but it makes the profile stand out. If you plan to show skins there, it helps to know your Steam ID and the rules of Trade Protection before trading.
