CS2 Update May: IEM Cologne 2026 Major and New Trade-ups

On May 22, Valve dropped the IEM Cologne 2026 Major update for CS2. While everyone expected an Armory update, Valve surprised everyone by bringing one of the most significant updates of 2026.

Yes, the stickers are here, the Pick'Em is live, and the Viewer Pass is available. But what makes this update stand out are the structural changes underneath all of that. Valve didn't just add new content. They reworked how Major items are bought, sold, and used, and added something that completely shifted the market (again). Here's everything you need to know about it.

Capsules Are Gone

Let's start with the biggest change. Sticker capsules, which have been a staple of every CS Major since the early CS:GO days, are no longer part of the equation. In their place is a token-based shop where every sticker is available for purchase directly at any time during the event.

This is a pretty fundamental shift because, for years, getting a specific sticker meant either buying capsules and hoping for the right drop. Or you could pay inflated prices to get them. Now you can just go into the shop and pick exactly what you want.

A specific player autograph, a team holo, a foil logo – it's all there, easily available.

However, the prices are not set by Valve. Every sticker has a price set by relative demand. When one sticker sells heavily compared to others, its price climbs while the rest fall.

Prices refresh periodically in batches, and players browsing the shop will get a warning before any price update goes through. It's a dynamic market system, essentially built into the game itself.

The Stickers

The Cologne Major stickers continue Valve's recent trend of bordered designs, and are available in Paper, Foil, Holo, and Gold.

The foil and holo versions are particularly well-received so far, with the mosaic-style design giving them a clean, distinct look compared to previous Majors. Gold team stickers feature more prominent gold backgrounds, while autographs go for a minimal approach.

And as always, there are team stickers, player autographs, and ESL tournament stickers as well.

Souvenir-O-Matic: Build Your Own Souvenir

One of the more creative additions is the Souvenir-O-Matic. You can now turn any CS2 skin already in your inventory into a Souvenir for the IEM Cologne Major 2026.

When matches are finished, you'll be able to transform any existing item into a digital memento of that particular game. In practice, this means you're no longer limited to the pre-selected weapon collections that traditionally dropped as Souvenirs. You bring your own skin, apply the match context to it, and you have a personalized Souvenir.

It's an interesting concept, and it opens up a lot more creative possibilities for commemorating specific matches or moments from the tournament.

Viewer Pass and Pick'Em

You can purchase the Cologne 2026 Viewer Pass and get an upgradable Cologne 2026 Coin and access the Pick'Em Challenge. With an active pass, you can earn rewards through correct picks and appear on the Active Pass Leaderboard to compare your performance against friends.

Pick'Ems are live now, so if you're planning to participate, get your predictions in before the Major begins.

Changes in Revenue Distribution

Also, Valve changed the revenue distribution system of the Majors. Revenue from the Major Shop and Major Pass will be split like this: 50% will go to Valve, and the other 50% distributed among the tournament operator, participating teams, and their players.

The exact split per team shifts depending on results, so the better teams perform, the more they will get.

Souvenirs in Trade-Ups

The community has requested this one for years. Souvenir skins can now be used in Trade-Up Contracts alongside regular skins. However, all Souvenir attributes will be removed from any souvenir items selected, and the result of the Trade-Up will be a single normal item of a quality one higher.

What this means practically: all those old Souvenir skins that have been sitting in inventories for years – picked up for cheap, never used – now have a real function. 

You can feed them into a Trade-Up just like any other skin. However, the Souvenir tag disappears in the process, and what comes out is a standard item. It won't make low-tier Souvenirs suddenly valuable, but it gives them utility they never had before.

If you don't know why it's so important, let us break it down. Lots of valuable skins, like MP5-SD | Oxide Oasis, are used in Trade Up Contracts for other valuable skins (e.g., AWP | Desert Hydra). And there was a gap between normal and souvenir items.

Now that the souvenir items can be used in contracts, the prices of souvenir items are skyrocketing, and people expect more skins, like Dragon Lores, to be crafted.

Bug Fixes

On the technical side, Valve fixed an overtime scoreboard display issue, resolved a bug where certain dropped weapons were incorrectly showing pickup hint text, and increased flash effect intensity when spectating from a player's perspective. Small fixes, but the kind that add up over time.

The IEM Cologne 2026 Major itself is just around the corner, with 32 teams competing. Whether you're in for the Pick'Em, the stickers, or just watching the matches, this update gives players more control over how they engage with Major content than ever before.