Everything you need to know about CSGO's Steam trading cards

M Alzamora Published 21/01/2021

Steam’s trading card system is a cool way for players to show they’re fans of certain games on the platform, but Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s free-to-play status makes the game’s trading cards behave a bit differently.

For some players, collecting CSGO’s trading cards is a way to grab some badges to show off on their Steam profile. CSGO has six different badges to earn through crafting. There are five different levels of badges that come from collecting the five cards in CSGO’s regular set, and the final “foil” badge for CSGO is crafted using CSGO’s foil cards.  The badges are a fun way to show off a player’s dedication to CSGO, so here’s a complete list of CSGO’s collectible cards, badges, the game’s rare foil badge, and a few tips and tricks for using Steam’s trading card options, including on the secret way players can sell CSGO’s duplicate cards in bulk.

How many CSGO trading cards and badges are there?

CSGO has five different trading cards and a profile badge. The first level takes one of each card to craft. There are five different badge levels, and users can upgrade CSGO’s Steam profile badge by collecting another five cards and using the same badge creation screen.

On CSGO’s library page, the right column has a section for trading cards. Clicking on “view my trading cards” will bring players to the “badge” section of their Steam profile. From here, players can craft collectible badges they can show off on their Steam profile. These badges are only cosmetic and are meant for the Steam Profile showcase. Unfortunately, that means they aren’t usable inside CSGO and are only available to decorate a user’s profile.

There are five levels of CSGO’s Steam badge. Players can unlock each level by crafting a badge using another set of CSGO’s five cards.

Players can also receive a foil CSGO trading card as one of their random drops. These cards have silver backgrounds and can be turned into CSGO’s foil badge. Unlike the five badge ranks available from CSGO’s normal cards, the foil badge only has one rank. Foil cards can also be bought on the Steam Marketplace.

How do players get CSGO trading card drops?

CSGO’s trading cards work much like they do for any other game on Steam. Playing the game gives users a chance to get a trading card drop that will then show up in a user’s inventory. These card drops give a helpful alert from the Steam client when they occur. There is a limit to how many drops a player can receive, but CSGO actually has a feature that most other games on Steam don’t have to allow players to continue collecting.

When users spend money on CSGO’s microtransactions, Valve increases the total number of card drops available to the player. Players can check how many card drops they have left by clicking on their profile in the Steam Client and finding CSGO under the “badges” section. The same menu is found by going into their Steam inventory, clicking on a CSGO trading card, and selecting “badge progress” as shown underneath the card. Clicking the “how do I earn card drops” link will take players to a page showing the total number of drops earned, how players have earned them, and how many more card drops they are eligible for.

How can you sell CSGO trading cards in bulk?

After users have worked their way through CSGO’s five badge ranks, they’ll still receive card drops as they play CSGO. For every set amount of money spent in CSGO, Steam will grant a player one more card drop, which explains the profiles that have hundreds of CSGO steam cards clogging up their inventories. Luckily, there’s a way for players to sell their trading cards in bulk.

Using the “view badge progress” button shown earlier, players can then simply click on the button that says “sell these cards on the market.” There, users can set the number of cards they wish to sell and how much they want to sell them for.

Fans will have to wait to see if Valve expands the number and variety of CSGO trading cards, but users can also spend their Steam Reward points on a variety of CSGO items, including stickers, animated emotes, and profile backgrounds.

M Alzamora

About M Alzamora

There are few things that writer M Alzamora loves more in life than Pokemon. And there are even fewer things that she loves more than her favorite Pokemon, Eevee. But M’s appreciation for gaming isn’t just limited to Nintendo’s famous pocket monsters. She’s interested in every type of game across every genre of gaming, and she has the credentials to prove it. M’s work has also been seen on Working Classicists and gaming sites.

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