Not every CS2 item goes on a gun. Music kits change what you hear, graffiti lets you tag the map, and collectible pins sit on your profile. They are cheaper and quieter corners of the market than skins, but each has its own rules about how it's used up, tracked or traded.
Music kits
Valve added music kits on October 10, 2014. Its release notes said that, when equipped, a kit replaces "all of the music in the game" and includes an anthem "that plays whenever you are MVP". The same update listed the cues a kit covers: main menu, round start, round end, map objective (the bomb), the ten-second warning and the death camera.
Most of that is only heard by you. The MVP anthem is the exception, since it plays for the whole server when you earn round MVP, which is why players pick kits partly for how the anthem sounds to everyone else. Valve also made kits visible to others through the scoreboard, so anyone can check what you're running.
StatTrak music kits
On September 24, 2015 Valve started selling music kits "that track your Official Competitive MVPs". A StatTrak kit counts the MVP rounds you earn while it is equipped, the music equivalent of a StatTrak weapon's kill counter. Standard and StatTrak versions are separate items.
Where kits come from now
Kits are sold in the in-game store, either individually or through music kit boxes, and trade on the Steam Community Market. A recent example is NIGHTMODE II, released on May 7, 2026: six electronic kits from ALRT, Altare, borne, Pirapus, Repiet & Julia Kleijn and ShockOne, each in standard and StatTrak versions. A few kits were promotional instead; the Half-Life: Alyx "Anti-Citizen" kit was given to people who pre-purchased Valve Index hardware.
Graffiti
Graffiti arrived with the "Make Your Mark" update on October 6, 2016, bringing back the sprays of older Counter-Strike games as inventory items. You get them as drops and from graffiti boxes, and you can buy and sell them on the Steam Market.
The key rule is the charge count. Valve's graffiti FAQ, as quoted at launch, said that unsealing a graffiti lets you "apply that pattern 50 times", and unsealing a pattern you already own adds 50 more charges to your supply. Sealed graffiti still work this way in CS2. To spray, hold the spray key (T by default), aim at a surface and click.
Two things matter for trading:
- Only sealed graffiti can be traded or sold. Once you unseal one, it's yours to use and nothing else.
- There are two main kinds. Monochrome patterns come from level-up drops in a range of tint colours. Multicoloured patterns come from graffiti boxes. Majors have also had team graffiti, including sealed team graffiti for Cologne 2026.
Most graffiti are low-value items. If you're collecting, keep the ones you care about sealed.
Collectible pins
Pins started as physical merchandise. According to the Counter-Strike Wiki, they were added on February 26, 2015 and sold only at Valve-sponsored events, in blind packs containing a random pin and a code. Redeeming the code gave you a virtual pin to display on your in-game profile, much like a coin.
From May 31, 2016 players could buy pin capsules in game. Those pins look the same but are not Genuine. A pin is Genuine only if it came from redeeming a physical pin's code, or in one case from a promotion: the Genuine Alyx Pin went to people who pre-purchased Valve Index hardware, alongside the Anti-Citizen music kit.
| Series | Example pins |
|---|---|
| Series 1 | Guardian Elite, Dust II, Mirage, Nuke |
| Series 2 | Chroma, Valeria Phoenix, Bloodhound, Cache |
| Series 3 | Howl, Welcome to the Clutch, Hydra, Aces High |
| Half-Life: Alyx | Alyx, Lambda, Combine Helmet, Vortigaunt |
Pins do nothing in a match. Their appeal is purely collecting and showing them on your profile, and many reference CS history: the Tactics Pin shares its artwork with the CS:GO Weapon Case, and the Howl Pin carries the art of the contraband M4A4.
Before you trade any of them
- Read the quality. "StatTrak" on a music kit and "Genuine" on a pin are separate items with their own prices, not upgrades you can add later.
- Keep graffiti sealed. An unsealed graffiti can't be traded, so unseal only what you plan to spray.
- Mind trade protection. Since July 2025, CS2 items you receive in a trade can't be consumed, modified or transferred for seven days. That includes unsealing a graffiti or opening a capsule you just traded for.
- Expect thin markets. Many of these items trade rarely, so price history can be patchy. Our guide to skin liquidity explains what that means when you want to sell.