The Major Shop Is Closing: Should You Invest in IEM Cologne 2026 Stickers, and Which Ones?
On September 29, Valve pulls the Major Shop from the game, and with it goes the chance to buy Cologne Major stickers straight from the developer. After that, the Steam Market becomes the only source, and the supply stops growing. If you want these stickers in your inventory, the time to decide is now.
We’ve been asking ourselves the same question, so we put our thoughts together: whether it’s worth getting into this market at all, where to buy, and which stickers we’re watching ourselves.
Should You Invest?
Our answer is a cautious yes, with one condition: you have to believe in the future of the CS2 market. Right now it’s clearly in a slump, or more precisely, at a crossroads. The next couple of years will show where Valve takes the Steam Market and CS2 items as a whole, and, most importantly right now, the Major sticker system.
If you’re optimistic about that, your second reason to buy is how small the Cologne sticker supply is. We see this as a long-term play, two to three years at minimum. Valve doesn’t publish sales figures. Listings on the Steam Market are still remarkably thin, and nobody knows how many stickers bought through the Major Shop are sitting in inventories. But think back to teams complaining about record-low payouts, with some saying they earned dozens of times less than at past Majors, and the conclusion draws itself.
The Ranked (square) versions deserve a separate mention. Their release split the audience’s attention. At first it looked like their lower price would drive more buying, leaving the classic round stickers scarcer. That no longer seems to be the case: from what we can tell, the drop didn’t really grab anyone.
So when we get to specific stickers, we won’t recommend a particular quality or version. We’ll just share our take on each one.
Where to Buy: Major Shop or Steam Market?
We couldn’t settle on a single answer here either. On the Steam Market, you can see the walls of buy orders and place your own below the Major Shop price. If you’re building a serious long-term position, that’s the route we’d recommend, and definitely with our SIH extension.
If you only need a couple of stickers, the in-game interface does the job. Instant-buy prices are roughly the same in both places, but the Major Shop is slightly cheaper. It also comes with buyer protection: if a sticker’s price drops by more than 25 tokens within 24 hours of your purchase, you get the difference back in tokens.
Sticker | Falcons (Holo) | Cologne 2026
This one’s simple: Falcons are the tournament champions, and behind that title is one of the strongest stories in modern CS. This Major ended NiKo’s years-long chase for the biggest trophy in the game, 3,067 days after the loss in Boston. For a team the community spent a year and a half mocking as “eternal runners-up,” it’s a turning point too. The sticker market doesn’t hold onto stories like this for long, but it keeps coming back to them.
The team is still riding the hype and shows no sign of slowing down: NiKo, m0NESY and kyousuke are on the roster, and the org has the budget to reinforce whenever it needs to. At the same time, there still aren’t many Falcons stickers in the game, and green stickers have always been prized for their brightness and rarity. Champion status, a huge storyline and a scarce color in a single sticker is a combination you rarely see, even at Majors.
Sticker | PARIVISION (Holo, Ranked) | Cologne 2026
The main selling points are the gorgeous teal and a distinctive logo. The Holo version makes the most of both: the teal shimmers far brighter on a holo base than on paper, and the logo stays legible even at sticker size on a weapon. The Ranked version has an extra perk: it’s cheaper than the classic one, so the barrier to entry is lower.
The second factor is the team’s future. Jame took PARIVISION from nearly the bottom of the pro scene to the level where they were beating top teams. But things aren’t going smoothly for them right now, and nowhere is the fight for Major spots tougher than in Europe: Vitality, Spirit, Falcons, NAVI, MOUZ, Aurora and a dozen other strong rosters. Nobody can say for sure how many more Majors PARIVISION will make. Good looks plus potential scarcity is a solid combination.
Sticker | Gaimin Gladiators | Cologne 2026
Here, limited supply is all but guaranteed. The org is far better known for Dota 2, never made a name for itself in CS and is unlikely to come back to the game, let alone with a roster good enough to qualify for a Major. The scarcity is already here, and it will only grow.
The downside is just as obvious: it’s unclear who you’ll sell these stickers to down the line. The team has no CS fanbase to prop up demand. But stickers like this have their own buyers: collectors, for whom the rarer a sticker is, the more appealing it gets. If you’re thinking long-term and keeping the investment small, it’s worth a look.
Sticker | IEM | Cologne 2026
In our view, one of the most interesting tournament logo stickers. The signature stained-glass style ESL designed for Cologne looks its best here. More importantly, scraping turns the sticker into the silhouette of the iconic IEM Cologne trophy, and a few sticker crafts built around that are already making the rounds online. Tournament stickers are usually bought just to collect, but this one has a real use.
There’s a bigger argument too. Cologne, whose LANXESS Arena has long been called the Cathedral of Counter-Strike, hosted the first Major without capsules, featuring the Major Shop and the Souvenir-O-Matic. The event could easily go down as a turning point: this is where Valve rebuilt the entire Major item economy, and where NiKo finally won his Major. Cologne 2026 may well be remembered as the start of a new era, and that applies to every sticker from the event, the logo first and foremost.
Sticker | The MongolZ (Holo, Ranked) | Cologne 2026
After a long run of dominance in Asia, things are rough for The MongolZ. The team has been in turmoil for over a year: Senzu left first, then mzinho and cobrazera followed over the summer. Their VRS points from past events keep shrinking, and if the team stalls, someone will eventually come knocking with a buyout offer for 910. Nobody knows how long The MongolZ can hold this level. For the market, that’s an argument for scarcity: the team has a big, loyal fanbase, and if Cologne turns out to be one of the last Majors for this generation of the lineup, demand for their stickers will only grow.
Sticker | THUNDERdOWNUNDER (Holo) | Cologne 2026
Simply one of the best-looking stickers in the game and the only purple one among Cologne’s team stickers. People spotted this banger right away, and it’s not only about looks. Purple is a rare color for tournament stickers, while CS2 has no shortage of purple skins, so demand for a sticker like this isn’t going anywhere. You’re all but guaranteed to make your money back sooner or later. The main drawback is the high entry price: this sticker isn’t cheap right now.
Sticker | kyxsan (Champion) | Cologne 2026
So far, the only case of a player getting a Champion version instead of a regular autograph without playing at the event. In the spring, kyxsan lost his IGL spot on Falcons, and karrigan played in his place on the way to the trophy in Cologne. Even so, under the sticker distribution rules, kyxsan’s autograph ended up in Champion form.
Nobody pays attention to this now, but the story could easily resurface down the line. And if Valve changes the sticker distribution rules, kyxsan’s sticker will remain the only precedent of its kind, which is a whole different level of rarity.
Sticker | FalleN | Cologne 2026
Here, we suggest riding the hype around FalleN going inactive this winter. Gabriel is one of the biggest legends in CS and the true father of the Brazilian scene. A player of his stature stepping away will be major news, especially if you remember his farewell speech at IEM Rio. News like this usually sparks interest in a player’s stickers: fans snap up the last autographs, and demand climbs on the market. This isn’t a long-term investment: buy the sticker in advance, sell into the news and pocket a modest profit.
Alex
Alex is an author and esports observer with more than seven years of experience. He specializes in analyzing new releases in the world of computer games, gaming services, and in-game economies. Alex shares practical experience and an expert perspective on the development of gaming, helping readers understand complex mechanics and stay up to date with the latest news.
