Operation Shattered Web was CS:GO's ninth operation, running from November 18, 2019 to March 31, 2020. It arrived after the longest gap in the series and changed almost everything about the format: equippable agents, a battle pass track instead of campaigns, three new weapon collections and a case with four new knife models. The operations overview puts it in context with the other ten.
Dates and the pass
Shattered Web went live on November 18, 2019, and Dexerto wrote that it had "come out of nowhere". Dexerto counted 910 days since Hydra and noted the operation was expected to run for at least 16 weeks. Valve's "Grand Finale" post of March 3, 2020 gave players until March 30 to finish missions, and on March 31 Valve wrote that it "wraps up today", adding that players had completed over 136 million missions.
The Operation Pass cost $14.99, according to Dexerto. PC Gamer rounded it to $15 and pointed out that this was a jump from the roughly $6 that Hydra and Wildfire had cost.
Missions were open to everyone, but as Valve put it, "you'll need an Operation Pass to redeem your rewards."
How the battle pass worked
Each week brought a mission card. According to the Counter-Strike Wiki, a card was worth up to six stars (ten in the first week), so a full run of missions added up to 100 stars, and stars could also be bought. Rewards sat at fixed points on a track:
| Reward | Where it sat on the track (stars) |
|---|---|
| Shattered Web Case | 5, 14, 32, 40, 56, 64, 80 and 91 |
| Norse Collection weapon | 10, 34 and 70 |
| Canals Collection weapon | 16, 58 and 94 |
| St. Marc Collection weapon | 22, 46 and 88 |
| Agents | 28 (Distinguished), 52 (Exceptional), 76 (Superior), 100 (Master) |
Stickers and graffiti filled the gaps in between. The wiki adds that Shattered Web is the only operation that used a fixed track; after 100 you could keep buying stars to go round again.
The coin now tracked missions rather than match stats: silver at 33 completed missions, gold at 66 and diamond at 100, per the wiki. Valve began issuing diamond coins when the final mission card went live on March 3. When the operation ended, each coin received a commemorative inscription with the owner's mission and star totals.
Agents
Shattered Web introduced "CS:GO's first 'agents,' characters that can be equipped on the T or CT side." Master Agents came with their own voice lines and animations, and Valve made one Master Agent the final reward on the track. PC Gamer described the change as Counter-Strike getting characters after 20 years of generic models.
Agents have their own rarity scale, no wear and, since February 2020, patches. The agents and patches guide covers how they work, so this article won't repeat it.
Norse, St. Marc and Canals
The three weapon collections were only available through the track, not in any case. Each has a single Covert.
| Collection | Covert | Classified |
|---|---|---|
| Norse | AWP Gungnir | Negev Mjölnir |
| St. Marc | AK-47 Wild Lotus | MP9 Wild Lily |
| Canals | AWP The Prince | MAG-7 Cinquedea |
Norse draws on Norse myth, as the names Gungnir, Mjölnir and Jörmungandr show, and St. Marc is a floral set. Like earlier operation-only sets, they could be earned only while the operation ran; after that, a trade-up contract using skins from the same collection became the way to create a new copy.
The Shattered Web Case and its knives
The case holds 17 community-made finishes, and the pass track handed out eight copies of it along the way.
| Grade | Finishes |
|---|---|
| Covert | AWP Containment Breach, MAC-10 Stalker |
| Classified | SG 553 Colony IV, SSG 08 Bloodshot, Tec-9 Decimator |
| Restricted | AK-47 Rat Rod, AUG Arctic Wolf, MP7 Neon Ply, P2000 Obsidian, PP-Bizon Embargo |
| Mil-Spec | Dual Berettas Balance, G3SG1 Black Sand, M249 Warbird, MP5-SD Acid Wash, Nova Plume, R8 Revolver Memento, SCAR-20 Torn |
Its rare special items were four new knives, the largest batch from a single operation: the Nomad, Skeleton, Paracord and Survival knives. According to the Counter-Strike Wiki each came in 13 finishes, the original knife set such as Fade, Crimson Web and Case Hardened. They had to wait until the Fever Case of March 2025 for Chroma finishes such as Doppler, as the Fever Case article explains. The knife guide compares the four models.
Maps and other changes
Valve shipped three new maps in different modes: Studio for Scrimmage and the Casual Sigma group, Lunacy for Flying Scoutsman and the community-made Jungle for Danger Zone. The update also added Accolades, end-of-match call-outs for things like most MVPs or most enemies flashed. It returned the SG 553 to $3,000 and cut the FAMAS and Galil AR by $200 each while making their full-auto spray more accurate. Missions included cooperative Guardian missions and a new co-op Strike mission.
What Shattered Web changed
Characters became items. Agents returned in Broken Fang and Riptide, and every agent in the game today came from one of those three operations.
From track to shop. The fixed battle pass lasted one operation. Broken Fang replaced it with a shop where you spent stars on the rewards you wanted.
Old drop lists retired. The Bloodhound-era operation drop list did not return. The Counter-Strike Wiki notes that skins from older operation-only sets, such as Bravo's Alpha Collection, have not been available as drops since Shattered Web.
Sources
- Operation Shattered Web — Counter-Strike blog
- Grand Finale — Counter-Strike blog
- Clearing Out the Cobwebs — Counter-Strike blog
- Release Notes for 3/31/2020 — Counter-Strike blog
- Counter-Strike has characters now — PC Gamer
- New CSGO Operation Shattered Web goes live 910 days after Hydra — Dexerto
- Operation Shattered Web — Counter-Strike Wiki
- Shattered Web Case — Counter-Strike Wiki
