Aside from getting item drops in the form of skins, cases, or graffiti sprays, players can also receive trading cards for actively playing CS:GO. Trading cards are directly related to Steam badges, and the primary use of trading cards and badges is to increase your Steam profile level.
Steam profile levels are useful to flex on other people and make yourself harder to impersonate, which is why the majority of big CS:GO traders have high Steam levels. In this article, we’ll explain everything you need to know about Counter-Strike Global Offensive cards and badges.
What Are Steam Trading Cards?
Just like in real life, trading cards on Steam are additional cards that can be transferred over to other players via trade. If you’re not interested in the trading cards you received through drops, you can always sell them on the marketplace.
However, the main purpose of trading cards is to craft badges, which is the primary way of leveling up your Steam account.
How To Collect Trading Cards
There are three main ways to collect trading cards on Steam and CS:GO.
- Simply Playing The Game: The first and easiest method of obtaining trading cards in CS:GO is to simply play the game. You can play the game as you normally would, and would sometimes be greeted with a free trading card that appears in your inventory automatically.
- Buying It From The Market: If you’re looking to get your Steam levels up quickly, you can always purchase these trading cards directly from the Steam Marketplace. Trading cards generally won’t cost you more than 50 cents, and you can buy specific cards by filtering down your search results.
- Receiving It From Other Players: The final way of obtaining trading cards is to receive it from other players like your friends through a Steam trade offer. If you are trading skins with other players, it never hurts to ask them if you can have their unused trading cards.
What Are Steam Badges?
Steam badges are the primary way of leveling up your profile level on Steam. Essentially, trading cards make up a Steam badge. Usually, five trading cards of the same badge set will be combined to craft a Steam badge.
After successfully creating a badge, you will receive Steam experience points which will be allocated to your Steam profile level. In other words, the more badges you craft, the higher your Steam profile level will be.
Collecting and crafting badges is a great way to show your dedication to the game, and increasing your Steam level will boost your reputation within the community as it provides some sort of social status. Here’s how you can craft badges on Steam.
- Collect The Required Cards: Every badge on the Steam platform will require a set of trading cards to be crafted. To craft a badge, the first step is to collect all the trading cards required to actually craft it. You will be informed of which cards you will need to complete the badge.
- Craft The Badge: Once you have collected all the required cards, you can go to the “Badges” section by opening your Steam client, hovering over your name, and then clicking on “Badges”. Finally, look for the badge you are looking for and then craft it.
- Receive Experience Points: Once the badge has been crafted, the Steam platform will automatically reward you with the experience points gained from finishing the craft. The amount of experience points can vary from badge to badge, so do keep that in mind.
Apart from receiving experience points after crafting, you can also get additional rewards such as profile backgrounds, emoticons, and most importantly, discount coupons for the Steam platform. You can use these coupons to buy Steam games at discounted prices, which is pretty cool.
Benefits Of Having High Steam Levels
We briefly listed out some of the benefits of having high Steam levels in the introduction of the article, but here are the advantages of leveling up your Steam profile.
The first advantage is simply for flexing purposes. Having a high Steam profile level radiates aura and is a great way to build social status on the Steam platform. Your profile viewers will know that you’re the real deal, and that you have spent time and money to achieve such a level.
However, there are more benefits to having high Steam levels than simple flexing. Players with high levels will have access to more profile showcase slots, where they can showcase their inventory, screenshots, text boxes, game reviews, Steam groups, and much more. This is very useful for traders who want to display their skins and Steam transactions.
Still, the biggest benefit of having a high Steam level is the increased limit for Steam friends. For those unaware, there is always a limit to how many friends you can add to your Steam account. A level 0 account can only have up to 250 friends. Every Steam profile level increases the limit by 5, which is how high-level users can add up to 700+ friends.
Tips And Tricks To Level Up Badges
If you’re looking to reach the three-digit level mark, let us give you some tips and tricks to remember when leveling up your profile.
Booster Packs
For those unaware, trading cards can be converted into Steam gems. With Steam gems, you can buy booster packs of trading cards, which will give you a pack filled with valuable cards. You can then use the cards you receive from the booster pack to craft more badges. Buying booster packs is a great way to spend gems you’re not looking to use.
Find Cheap Trading Cards
Generally, you should look for trading cards that cost $0.03 to $0.05. Always craft cheap badges using affordable trading cards to get XP points. This means you might want to craft badges on lesser-known Steam games. You don’t necessarily have to play a game to craft the badge for it, so make sure you are spending the least amount of money to gain the most amount of experience points.
Craft Badges During Seasonal Sales
Last but not least, this is sort of a “secret” tip that not many people know about. For those unaware, it is more efficient to craft your badges when there is a seasonal sale going on, such as the Steam Summer Sale or the Steam Winter Sale. When crafting badges during these times, you can receive experience bonuses that you wouldn’t receive when seasonal sales aren’t live.