GamerPay Times - February

amerPay Times

God tier AK’s unboxed!

This month’s new AK-47 skins are not as impressive as last month’s, but they are still really good. User flareyCS made a successful trade-up to obtain the lowest float ST AK Fire serpent, which had only a 5% chance of succeeding. This AK is not likely to get knocked off the number one spot as the low float items necessary to beat it simply are all used up already. Another super lucky individual this month was @im_notcasper his friend who managed to be the first person to ever unbox the holy grail of case hardened skins, an AK-47 Case-Hard ened pattern 661 while playing cs.

With the creator of the Black Lotus collection

“He found a dream waiting in his mailbox.”

The Kukri knife case has only been released for a month, but someone has already unboxed the number one pattern Kukri knife case-hardened. A Steam user named hungee87 was very lucky to unbox this beauty in a StatTrak Factory New condition. The estimated price for this blue gem with the number one pattern is around 15000 USD. This price is only an estimate and can definitely exceed the price estimate depending on demand.

Most of our beloved skins are made for and by the community through a tool called the steam workshop. But how exactly is a skin added to the game? Let’s dig deeper together with the creator of the snowfall sticker, ArkoDigital

Arko has been playing Counter-Strike since Source together with his brothers and dad he nourished his love for the game and the skins. Even before “skins” existed Arko was intrigued by weapon cosmetics, downloading skin packs to modify the looks of the weapons in source. This experience seeded Arko’s love for skins. Since the start of his skin-creating journey, he has submitted 302 workshop items of which 70 are skins together with his wife @itscelaVee. The first sticker he published was also the first one he got accepted into the game, which is the snowfall sticker found in the espionage sticker capsule. Now he has set his goal to get his first skin accepted into the game.

The masterpiece he has created to make his dream of having a skin in the game come true, is the awp Kuraokami which @itscelaVee has cleverly named after the Japanese dragon god of rain and snow. And equally as special is the reason why this skin exists in the first place.

Arko creates skins as a side job, but he dreams of making it his full-time occupation one day. He currently works as a 911 operator during his regular work hours. Although creating skins takes up a lot of his time, he and his wife remain committed to pursuing their passion for skins. Lastly, we asked Arko for some tips that aspiring skin creators can use:

“I have told newer artists who contacted me in the past that the only thing I want them to know is that I don’t do this for the money at the end of the day. I have 8k hours in the game, and I truly love the game. I make skins and stickers because I like them and want to use them in the game. Even blue/purple skins that we put out like the galil recently are because I like the colours and want to use them in my loadout. Other than that, @Zombeldor has an amazing discord with a whole bunch of accepted creators who are more than willing to help you learn the ropes. Your first submissions will likely suck and that’s okay. The only way to get better is to practice, and you’ll get it. Ignore workshop approval ratings, and focus on learning new techniques daily. It’s easier said than done but that’s the best advice I can give.”

Check out ArkoDigital

“I grew up playing Mortal Kombat on Sega Gamegear. My older brother loved playing as Scorpion, and I loved playing as Sub-Zero. The ice/snow aesthetic always fascinated me, and I carried that interest into my adult life. I love winter and everything that comes with it. When I began making stickers, I created a snowflake design, which I then incorporated into several other stickers. One of them, called the Winterlore, was an icy version of the Dragon Lore. When I posted it on Twitter, people suggested that I make a full skin with it. Initially, I was hesitant to take on such a project, as I had only briefly explored skinwork. However, my wife and I eventually decided to create the Kuraokami. It was around the time that the snowy cobblestone leak came out that we realized a winter-themed Dragon Lore remake for winter cobblestone made perfect sense.”

P2000 Acid etched guide

The “Acid Etched” is a really unique P2000 skin with a variety of very interesting patterns that can drastically change the appearance of the skin! Unfortunately, there was not a lot of info on the patterns availableso I did the work of going through all 1000 patterns and categorizing them, so you don’t have to!

Rainbow Patterns

These are the patterns that have the whole spectrum of colored “goop” on the top and side of the slide (as this is the most visible part of the gun when equipped.)

By CptnKraken

To begin, I sorted through every single “Acid Etched” pattern and broke them into different categories based on the patterns I saw.

I then entered the top patterns into a spreadsheet and sorted them and grouped them into categories based on the pattern categories I found.

Creature/Animal Patterns

These are the patterns that appear to have various animals or creatures on the back of the gun.

There are no rankings for these patternsjust a list of different ones.

Cat pattern #320; Panda pattern #219; Frog pattern #831

New skins on the block

As seen on the front page, this month has been no slouch in terms of unboxing. With the new case dropping it is no wonder case unboxing numbers are through the roof. Even though many cases are being unboxed right now, someone already got really lucky and unboxed a crimson web Kukri knife in Factory-New condition. You might ask yourself the question, is it that rare? Yes! Yes, it is. All Crimson Web finishes are capped at a 0.06 float value (just like all glove skins) which makes the float range for being Factory New super small. Price for this bad boy? As of now, it’s super hard to give a correct price for

this as it is a niche item and also a new knife. Our estimate would be somewhere around the 4000 USD mark. The latest rare float skin to grace the game is the AK47 Head Shot, and it is a skin that stands out from the rest. What makes it so special is its float value of 0.99999988079071. The Head Shot it’s float value is so high that it is currently unmatched by any other skin in the game. Moreover, it is a covert skin, which is a rarity in itself. The AK-47 Head Shot’s appearance in the game is a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon, with odds of one in a billion!

Tier 1: #798; #893; #749; #191; #282; #513

Major news for these teams!

After the conclusion of the RMRs, the list of teams that qualified for the first CS2 major at the Royal Arena in Copenhagen is now known. The event will feature a mix of experienced teams and first-timers from different regions worldwide.

In Group A, we have some fresh faces who have never attended a major before. This includes SAW, a team from Portugal, AMKAL, a Russian team, and KOI, a team from Kazakhstan. It will be exciting to see how they perform on the big stage.

In Group B, only the Danish powerhouse team, Ecstatic, managed to qualify for the first time. They beat Guild Eagles in a nail-biting best-of-3 match. At the beginning of the match, the team Ecstatic experienced a slow start due to missing some crucial opportunities in the first map. However, they managed to pick up the pace and made a good comeback by winning the next two maps. Their impressive performance in the following maps helped them secure the win against their opponents, the Albanians. Despite facing

Qualifying for mayor means that your team gets stickers in-game. This is a peak for pro players, who can now see fans decorate their weapon skins to show support for their team. Each year the stickers look slightly different from previous years and community members love speculating how this year’s stickers could look like. ArkoDigital,

some challenges in the beginning, Ecstatic was able to turn the game around and claim victory. They will be representing their country and competing with top teams from around the world. It will be interesting to see if they can make their mark in the tournament and go all the way.

Despite being the favourites to qualify for the major on their home ground, Astralis faced a significant setback. Their performance was lacklustre, and they suffered unexpected losses against top-tier teams such as Heroic. The defeat knocked them out of the RMR, leaving them with just one chance to keep their major dreams alive - the last-chance qualifier. However, their hopes were quickly dashed when they faced 9 Pandas, who outplayed them on two consecutive maps. The first map, Overpass, was a nail-biting match, with 9 Pandas eventually securing a 13-11 victory. The second map, Nuke, was equally disappointing for Astralis, with 9 Pandas winning 13-8. As a result, 9 Pandas ended up winning the last chance qualifier and will be competing in Copenhagen.

the creator of the snowfall sticker, has included a background in his concept design, which is a neat change from previous stickers with a borderless design that made it into the game. We at GamerPay love the design of this concept sticker and hope it can inspire Valve to do something different from last year’s designs.

Trophy madness!

The renowned Polish pro player @paszabiceps recently shared some intriguing insights into the production costs associated with creating an ESL trophy. During a conversation with an ESL employee, Pasha was informed that, on average, a single trophy would cost around $15,000, which was the price back in 2012. This amount, when adjust-

ed for inflation, equates to a staggering $20,000 today. While the price tag may seem absurd for a mere piece of metal, the trophy is more than just a metal object. It is a vital part of Counter-Strike history, symbolizing the hard work and dedication of the players who have competed for it over the years.

The Royal Flush of Skins

The community often undervalues souvenir skins. Most people believe that non-souvenir skins are superior, but some dedicated souvenir collectors have impressive collections that can make your eyes water. Let’s take a deeper look at the inventory of one of these souvenir collectors, MVPHAS.

Since 2013, a Portuguese professional poker player named MVPHAS has been playing Counter-Strike and collecting souvenir skins. He has gained quite a reputation in the skin scene for his collection of souvenir Dreamhack 2013/Katowice 2014 skins, which mainly have Katowice 2014 holos applied to them.

His skin collection is immense, with over 325 extremely rare souvenir items. His collection is not limited to only skins, he also collects rare commodities such as souvenir packages of which he owns several. A good example of this is that he is the sole owner of all three EMS One 2014 iBP packages, making it an incredibly rare feat!

Although he has many weapon skins, there is one that he treasures the most and would never get rid of, his souvenir M4A1-s Nitro. It boasts Katowice 2014 foil stick-

ers on it, and to make it even more special, it has an iBuyPower holo applied on the handle of the gun. This makes it the only souvenir Nitro skin with an IBP holo applied to it. Similarly, MVP also owns a souvenir Nitro skin, but with a Katowice 2014 titan foil on it, making it the only one of its kind. Though he has amassed a lot of skins over the years, some slipped between his fingers, a prime example of this is the ak “Blue Alien” or as most people will know, the ak that famous streamer OhnePixel owns. Back in the day, MVP could have bought this insane 955 AK Case Hardened with Katowice 2014 holos for a measly $2200, A fraction of what it is worth today. Luckily, he isn’t upset about this because it allowed him to buy other great items.

In his quest to have every weapon with a souvenir 2013 or 2014 skin with a Katowice 2014 holo applied to it, mvphas had to apply quite a few Katowice 2014 holos himself. So far he has applied 3 on souvenir skins to further complete his collection. And 2 more to complete other crafts. One of the weapons he has crafted is a sick souvenir M4A4 Urban ddpat with an iBuyPower Katowice 2014 foil, MVP added a mousesports Katowice 2014 holo to this (3700$) to make it look like the IBP is eating the mousesports, a so-called tom and jerry craft.

Each item in MVPHAS’ inventory is rare and hard to obtain because these are items that have existed for over 10 years! Most of their original owners have not logged into Steam for a very long time and are thus unobtainable. To get a collection together of this calibre must have taken years. Our respect goes out to MVP for curating his collection. And we wish him much luck in obtaining his next items!

Feel inspired and want to check out his full collection? Click here to check out his full CS2 inventory.

Check out his full collection

Screenshots: @rafaspam

New game, New skins

With the release of the new case, veteran skin creator @moonfighterWS got another skin accepted into the game. The M4A1-S Black Lotus is the successor to the popular USP-S Black Lotus. We spoke with moonfighter to get his reaction to the news that his skin, which he originally made for CSGO had been accepted into the first CS2 case.

“After a tiring day, I decided to give myself a break from my phone and not check it at night. Lately, I have been waking up in the middle of the night to check if the CS update had dropped, which was affecting my sleep schedule. I almost made it through the night until I woke up at 4:30 am. Although I felt the urge to check my phone, I managed to resist it and went back to sleep for another hour. However, at 5:30 am, I couldn’t resist anymore and checked my phone, only to see an email notification from Steam. My heart started racing as I hoped it was an acceptance email for my submission of M4 Black Lotus. My eyes were still blurry from sleep, but I quickly realized that it was indeed an email from Steam, and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was like a dream come true. I immediately called my mom to share the news, and her happiness knew no bounds. While talking to her, I accidentally woke up my wife, who was alarmed as she thought there was some emergency. She was relieved and equally excited as I shared the news of the M4 Black Lotus being accepted. Although we

New game, New crafts!

With the new crafting system, a lot of unique and new crafts became possible. We looked through the most popular ones and made a compilation of the best ones. First on the list is a Glock Ramese’s Reach and 5x Stone Scale Foils applied on top. This craft matches

well and can be made for around 20EUR, depending on the condition of the Glock. Truly a endgame budget glock in our opinion. Craft by @gotyacat

Art by: @w4g0n

were tired, we couldn’t stop ourselves from feeling excited and elated. We made coffee, had breakfast, and turned on Arrow’s stream to learn more about the update. We both joined Arrow’s stream and had a great time discussing the update. It took me a few days to truly comprehend the fact that my submission had been accepted, and the feeling was still surreal. However, it was an incredible experience, and I couldn’t be happier.”

Moonfighter is planning to convert all of his previous Black Lotus skins to the specifications of the M4A1 Black Lotus. He hopes that by doing so, another Black Lotus skin can make it into the game, now that the second one has been accepted. We at team GamerPay wish moonfighter much luck in his journey to make the best skins!

Check out moonfighter

This craft depicts well how creative people can be with the new crafting system. Someone created a red Katowice 2014 titan lookalike with 90eur worth of stickers. What you need for this craft is 1x Titan | Cluj-Napoca 2015 and 4x aizy | Cologne 2016

This Glock-18 vogue is a remarkable example of how simple steps can lead to amazing results. The craft involves rotating five Mouz Paris 2023 stickers to create a truly impressive effect. The talented user, @jabGG_, has demonstrated this technique beautifully, showcasing the potential of this craft.

Want to buy a Howl but cant justify spending 3500$ on one? Make a budget version of it! With just 5 stickers: First Blood, Zeusception (Holo), 2x Fast Banana and War. Scrape these all to the max and allign them properly and you will get yourself a howl looking skin! Creativity to the max!

Steam community market fails

It sometimes happens that someone who used to play cs back in 2014, comes back to cs and finds some insanely rare items (such as Katowice 2014 stickers, capsules or other expensive skins) in his inventory. Sometimes they do research online and find out they are worth much more than on the Steam community market. But it also sometimes happens they sell their items on the com-

CS is so back!

munity market without doing research. This is what recently happened when some (un)lucky person sold their EMS Katowice 2014 challengers capsule for €1503.22 on the community market while he could have sold it on other marketplaces for close to €23000. RIP!

The release of the new gameplay update in early February has brought a significant surge in the popularity of Counter-Strike 2. In just under a month, the item prices have increased by around 14%, which is a substantial growth considering the time of the year. The recent update has made the game feel more responsive and smoother, making it more enjoyable for players. As a result, the player count has also increased significantly, with more than 5 million active players in the past month, which is a notable achievement.

In comparison to the previous 850 thousand average daily players, Counter-Strike 2 now boasts more than 1.1 million active players on a daily basis. This also indicates that CS2 is on the rise in popularity. The recent changes have given CS2 an overall quality of life improvement, making it quite well-received, even by the loyal Counter-Strike: Global Offensive player base. This is a significant achievement as the CS:GO player base is known to be very loyal and resistant to change.

While 14% may not seem like a lot, it is the first real upward trend since the release of Counter-Strike 2, as seen in the graph by Pricempire. The market had flattened out in December 2023, and we had little to almost no

First content update

CS2 release

movement in the economy. It is quite a sight for sore eyes to see the market moving again. This upward trend indicates that the game is still growing and that there is still a lot of potential for further growth. We are excited to see what will happen in Counter-Strike 2, particularly with the first CS2 major on the way. The community is eagerly looking forward to this event, and it is expected to bring a lot of attention to the game. With the recent quality-of-life improvements, Counter-Strike 2 seems to be on the right track to become one of the most popular games in the market.

Crossword puzzle:

Across:

2. Most famous strategy among the silver playerbase, most commonly to B

5. What is the name of the file that pro player “forsaken” used to hide his cheats with

6. Name of the very first operation in csgo

10. Hostage map known for many cheaters that play only this map

11. The city where the first cs2 major will take place at

15. How is the first case in cs2 called?

Down:

1. Name of the rare special item you get in the operation wildfire case

3. Name of the sticker that skin creator ArkoDigital has gotten into the game

4. If you look at this skin, You turn to stone

7. Name of the newest cs2 sticker capsule

8. Name of the newest knife

9. Callout for the highest point on the map nuke

12. Counterpart of the USP-S

13. Team with the longest win streak in counterstrike history

14. Skin input for a trade-up to a dragonlore