Why Didn’t VALVE Approve This? PGL Copenhagen Autographs Before/After Release
The release of stickers for the first CS:GO Major sparked a lot of discussions and misunderstandings. The stickers appeared in the game only during the second stage of the tournament when the first eight teams had already left Copenhagen. The community never received an official response from VALVE. The prevailing version of such a significant delay is the new rules that forced many players to redesign their personal autographs within a short period. Rumor has it that the organizers were waiting for each Major participant to arrive at the tournament and be able to reproduce their autograph independently. As a result, players who consulted designers were forced to abandon their ideas. However, so that their efforts would not be in vain, many of them shared their autographs on social networks. In this material, we will show some interesting ideas that were rejected.
Sticker | jL | Copenhagen 2024
Star player NAVI demonstrates very good performance at the tournament in Denmark, and judging by the sales, his sticker is in decent demand. Before the event, jL gave several interviews and said that last year, the release of stickers gave him a lot of motivation.
“The Major and stickers – it’s a separate experience. I remember the moment when the stickers were released right before my first Major. My face lit up, and I really felt like I was on the right path as a player.”
It’s no wonder that for his second Major, he dedicated a lot of time to his own autograph. In the initial version, it was cool to play around with the two letters “J” and “L,” which formed a cute creature. Developers have never been against adding emojis, and it’s unclear why the Natus Vincere player’s version was rejected. The final version with the addition of “Legend” looks much duller and is unlikely to be interesting to anyone except jL’s fans. And he is still very far from the status of a “legend.”
Sticker | rain | Copenhagen 2024
If anyone can consider themselves a legend, it’s the Norwegian player from FaZe. He has been playing for the American organization for 8 years and has won all the top trophies in Counter-Strike with this team. It’s strange that VALVE didn’t satisfy rain’s request and didn’t add his version to the game. The player’s autograph looks quite simple and is done in the style of street graffiti. There are no overly complex elements in it, and the current sticker lacks any uniqueness.
Sticker | BoombI4 | Copenhagen 2024
Cloud9’s captain returned to the Major after a long break and perhaps didn’t even expect that another sticker with his nickname would appear in the game. In previous versions of the autograph, Kirill always used images of hearts and decided not to deviate from his concept. For the Major in Copenhagen, BoomIb4 replaced the images of hearts with Chinese characters with the word “love.” Developers didn’t like this idea, although it refers to the next CS:GO Major in Shanghai. We’re sure Kirill will try to push this version for the event in China. The current sticker doesn’t evoke any emotions but looks like a handwritten signature. Perhaps, this completely meets VALVE’s requirements, but such autographs on weapons are absolutely unnoticeable.
Sticker | siuhy | Copenhagen 2024
The finalist of the last tournament in Paris didn’t want to come up with a new sticker because he was completely satisfied with the previous one. It’s not surprising; the sticker from the last CS:GO Major was quite creative. It’s strange that he wasn’t allowed to add the existing version to the game and was forced to follow new instructions. As a result, we got a boring autograph that doesn’t stand out and doesn’t evoke any emotions. Luckily, MOUZ’s game under siuhy’s leadership produces completely opposite impressions, and his team is one of the contenders for the championship.
Sticker | m0NESY | Copenhagen 2024
The young talent from Russia expressed strong dissatisfaction when he saw VINI’s sticker in the game. “They didn’t allow me to add a small lightning bolt, and the guy drew a huge sausage” he shared on his social networks. His emotions can be understood, as he received the same autograph as before. On the other hand, the changes he wanted to make were not so significant. But m0NESY’s most devoted fans know that the “lightning bolt” is a very important attribute for him. For a long time, his Steam profile has featured an image of Minato Namikaze from the anime Naruto. This character is called the “Yellow Flash,” and Ilya has often said that he was greatly inspired by this hero from the famous anime. In terms of his style of play and incredibly fast reaction, m0NESY indeed resembles lightning, so it’s a shame that VALVE didn’t appreciate another interesting reference from one of the best players in modern CS.
Sticker | Hobbit | Copenhagen 2024
There are examples where the initial versions are significantly inferior to the final versions. The Cloud9 player showed the community his autograph, which developers refused to add to the game. It was an ordinary, unremarkable sticker, with a font slightly reminiscent of “elvish” from The Lord of the Rings movies. When capsules were added to CS, Abai said he had to rework last year’s idea with Turkic runes. In 2023, Cloud9 didn’t make it to the Major in Paris, and the players didn’t get their stickers, which led to significant roster changes. The changes worked out well, and the Major champion in Krakow received his coveted sticker in the form of Turkic runes.
Sticker | FalleN | Copenhagen 2024
Another story where the majority of people in the community took VALVE’s side. The Brazilian CS legend could have confidently turned to jL for help and asked him to remove the “Legend” inscription from his sticker. What the two-time Major winner came up with looks very strange. The idea of portraying his experience in different versions of Counter-Strike isn’t so bad, but the implementation turned out to be extremely primitive. It will be interesting to see the next attempts to realize this idea, so let’s cheer for FalleN in the next RMR qualifiers.
Sticker | mopoz | Copenhagen 2024
Players’ sticker problems arise at almost every Major. As we know, the tournament in Copenhagen was no exception. But it must be most disappointing for the Spanish player from the KOI team. Instead of the sticker he sent to the developers, VALVE added his old version. This autograph mopoz prepared for the 2020 Major, which didn’t take place due to COVID restrictions. It’s good that the player even got his sticker, because his team was eliminated in the Opening Stage, and capsules were added to the game only for the second stage of the event.
Sticker | Wicadia | Copenhagen 2024
This guy is accused of delaying the release of autograph capsules. They say he sent about 6 different versions to the developers but only shared one of them. Judging by the final version, drawing his nickname himself was a really difficult task for the Turkish player. This also confirms the theory that VALVE aimed to get autographs in person, right at the tournament in Denmark.
The story of players’ autographs at the first CS:GO Major turned out to be one of the most interesting in recent years. The entire community followed the developments, voiced their theories, and eagerly awaited the capsule release. It’s good that in the end, every player got their autographs, albeit with a significant delay. It’s just a shame for the 9Pandas players, who not only missed the tournament but also lost their first stickers in the organization’s history.