Major capsules get most of the attention, but Counter-Strike has released more than two dozen sticker capsules that have nothing to do with tournaments. They range from the very first capsules of 2014 to single-artist sets, crossovers with other games and community collections. This guide lists them in order and explains how the format changed along the way.
2014: the first capsules
Stickers arrived with the CS:GO update of February 5, 2014. Valve's post explained the original system: you received Sticker Capsules as drops while playing, each held one sticker out of several designs, and you opened it with a Sticker Capsule Key. That first capsule, simply called Sticker Capsule, held 15 stickers, with Lucky 13 and Luck Skill as its foils. Sticker Capsule 2 followed on February 27 with foils such as Crown and Stupid Banana.
Valve had promised a sticker Workshop in that first post, and the Community Sticker Capsule 1 of May 1, 2014 was the result. According to the Counter-Strike Wiki, it needed its own key, and part of the proceeds went to the artists. Its contents changed several times in its first months, the best-known case being the Howling Dawn sticker, which was removed after a copyright claim and is now the only Contraband sticker. Our stickers guide tells that story.
For a while Valve also sold some community stickers directly in the store rather than in capsules, as Community Sticker Series 2 to 5 and a Halloween 2014 set.
The CS:GO-era capsules at a glance
Dates follow the Counter-Strike Wiki's capsule pages and Valve's own posts where they exist. The capsules released since CS2 are covered further down.
| Capsule | Released | What it was |
|---|---|---|
| Sticker Capsule | Feb 5, 2014 | The first capsule; dropped in matches, needed a key |
| Sticker Capsule 2 | Feb 27, 2014 | Second generic capsule |
| Community Sticker Capsule 1 | May 1, 2014 | First Workshop capsule, with its own key |
| Enfu Sticker Capsule | Apr 28, 2015 | All designs by the artist Enfu |
| Pinups, Slid3, Team Roles | Dec 8, 2015 | Three single-artist capsules sold as in-game offers |
| Sugarface, Bestiary | Sep 28, 2016 | Single-artist capsules by Guardian Gear, and by apёl7 with Less |
| Perfect World Sticker Capsule 1 and 2 | Sep 14, 2017 | Made by Perfect World for players of its Chinese version |
| Community Capsule 2018 | Feb 15, 2018 | Eight community designs |
| Skill Groups | Nov 14, 2018 | The competitive skill group emblems |
| Feral Predators | Mar 28, 2019 | Designs by 2Minds, OniLolz and Zaphk |
| Chicken Capsule | Jun 18, 2019 | Chickens by Slid3, part of the 20th anniversary |
| CS20 Sticker Capsule | Oct 18, 2019 | 20 community stickers for the anniversary |
| Halo | Nov 26, 2019 | Cross-promotion with 343 Industries |
| Half-Life: Alyx | Mar 22, 2020 | Released the day before Half-Life: Alyx launched |
| Warhammer 40,000 | May 27, 2020 | First Games Workshop capsule |
| Poorly Drawn | Mar 18, 2021 | Ten designs, each also in holo |
| 2021 Community | Sep 9, 2021 | 21 community stickers |
| Battlefield 2042 | Nov 17, 2021 | Tie-in with the game's launch |
| The Boardroom | Feb 1, 2022 | 22 community stickers |
| 10 Year Birthday | Aug 16, 2022 | CS:GO's tenth birthday; first lenticular stickers |
| Espionage | Feb 9, 2023 | 21 Workshop stickers, released with the Revolution Case |
2015 to 2016: one artist per capsule
From 2015 Valve tried a different format: a whole capsule by one artist. The Enfu Sticker Capsule came first, in April 2015, and the Counter-Strike Wiki notes that it did not drop and was sold through the in-game store instead. The Winter Update of December 8, 2015 added "several new community sticker capsules, currently available as offers", which were the Pinups Capsule by ninjasia, the Slid3 Capsule and the Team Roles Capsule by ThePolymath. In September 2016 the Sugarface and Bestiary capsules followed.
Sugarface later got a sequel: the Sugarface 2 stickers joined the Armory in October 2025, as our October 2025 update article describes.
2017 to 2020: themes and crossovers
After two capsules made by Perfect World, Valve's publishing partner in China, came a run of themed sets. The Skill Groups capsule of November 2018 turned the competitive rank emblems, from Silver to Global Elite, into stickers. The Chicken Capsule and the CS20 Sticker Capsule both belonged to Counter-Strike's 20th anniversary in 2019; the CS20 capsule launched alongside the CS20 Case and includes foils such as Door Stuck and Dragon Lore.
The crossover capsules began with Halo in late 2019. Valve's post for November 26, 2019 called the Halo capsule "a cross-promotion with 343 Industries", timed to The Master Chief Collection's arrival on Steam. In March 2020 a Half-Life: Alyx sticker capsule went on sale together with a pin capsule and a patch pack, the day before Valve's VR game launched. The first Warhammer 40,000 capsule followed in May 2020; its four 2025 successors are covered in our Warhammer capsules article.
2021 to 2023: community capsules return
By this point opening a capsule no longer meant buying a key: the Counter-Strike Wiki's pages for the capsules from Skill Groups onwards note that they open without one and can be bought in the in-game store or on the Steam Community Market. The 2021 to 2023 releases were mostly community collections: Poorly Drawn, the 2021 Community capsule, The Boardroom and Espionage, with a Battlefield 2042 tie-in in between.
The standout is the 10 Year Birthday Sticker Capsule of August 16, 2022. Valve said its "over 60 community submitted designs" came from a 10th anniversary sticker competition and included "an all new animated 'Lenticular' quality". The Counter-Strike Wiki counts 65 stickers, six of them lenticular, making it the first capsule with that finish.
Since CS2
Capsules have continued in Counter-Strike 2, alongside a new format. The Ambush Sticker Capsule came with the Kilowatt Case update in February 2024. From October 2024 the Armory added sticker collections such as Elemental Craft, Character Craft and 2025 Community, bought with Armory credits rather than as capsules. The four Warhammer capsules of May 2025 and the Jackass Sticker Capsule of July 2026 kept the classic format. For team and player stickers, see our guide to Major sticker capsules.
Sources
- Stickers announcement, February 5, 2014 — Counter-Strike blog (Valve)
- Community Sticker Capsule 1 — Counter-Strike Wiki
- Release Notes for 12/8/2015 — Counter-Strike blog (Valve)
- Enfu Sticker Capsule — Counter-Strike Wiki
- New Missions, Secret Agent Man (Halo Sticker Capsule) — Counter-Strike blog (Valve)
- Half-Life: Alyx — Counter-Strike blog (Valve)
- Happy Birthday CS:GO (10 Year Birthday Sticker Capsule) — Counter-Strike blog (Valve)
- 10 Year Birthday Sticker Capsule — Counter-Strike Wiki
