Counter-Strike is Having a Skin Design Contest: Call II Arms-oury

Valve’s Call to Arms Counter-Strike design contests have found success among players, and the Workshop tool makes it easier than ever. Now, a Call II Arms-oury campaign will kick things off again with themed weapon requests. Let’s explore everything to know about the contest and how fans can enter.

Call to Arms-oury Brings Player-Designed Skins to Counter-Strike

Valve has never been shy about leaning on its community to shape the look and feel of Counter-Strike, including its most popular pros. The game has a history of adding graffiti art to celebrate legendary esports plays, for example, Olofmeister’s flaming bomb defuse. The latest addition, dropping at the start of July, is a set of tomato sauce jar easter eggs on Mirage that recognize Magixx’s crazy 1v4 at IEM Cologne.

The Counter-Strike fanbase has been involved in skin designs for a while (think the 2021 Dreams and Nightmares competition), but Valve is now embracing a formal submission process through its Workshop tool. Counter-Strike’s latest initiative takes the game’s design relationship a step further by inviting players to weigh in on new cosmetic releases.

Dubbed “Call to Arms-oury,” this update allows skin creators, sticker artists, and charm designers to submit their work. Applications have a shot at real money prizes and a permanent spot in the game. The update originally dropped in December 2025. Instead of leaving the process completely open-ended, Valve also gave artists themes to work with so they could judge from a cohesive item pool.

The inaugural competition invited players to submit cosmetics for two weapon themes (Arabesque and Spytech) and two sticker themes (Fruits & Vegetables and Auto Racing). It saw quick success, with Valve receiving plenty of enthusiasm and item submissions from interested creators. Winners have been added to the game with the new Season 5 update: read our explainer article here.

July 2026 Call II Arms-oury Contest

Now, another skin contest is launching several months later. Valve is once again opening up submissions, with brand new prompts to boot. The July 2026 themes include:

• Fairy Tale Weapons
• Cryptids Stickers
• Pop Art Stickers

How to Submit Counter-Strike Contest Designs

Submitting to the skin contest is easy; making the designs is the hard part. Here’s a quick step-by-step:

• Download and open the Counter-Strike Workshop tool. This application gives players and artists a direct way to create content for CS2 and submit it straight to Valve for review.
• Design and render your cosmetic.
• Go to the item’s attributes. Directly below the ‘Weapon Tags’ box, you should see a ‘Call to Arms‘ section.
• Select the prompt enlistment for your item’s theme.
• Press the ‘Submit’ button on the bottom right corner of the box.
• You’re done! Valve should review your art and contact you if you end up winning.
• *Important*: You must agree to Counter-Strike’s supplemental terms.

It’s important to note that anyone who already has Workshop submissions that fit these themes just needs to resubmit and tag their work using the new options. Feel free to use designs that have been sitting in your inventory for a while!

Counter-Strike Call II Arms-oury Skin Design Prizes

Valve typically pays cosmetic creators for the skins it chooses. Typically, this occurs with a royalty structure (a percentage of each skin sale goes to the artist). However, some skin creators prefer not to use this method since it lessens their reward if the skin doesn’t turn out to be popular.

Call to Arms-oury introduces an alternative. Creators can opt into a one-time flat payout instead. Previously, Valve offered up to 35,000 USD for an accepted weapon finish, while stickers and charms each come with a flat fee of 6,000 USD. Artists have a choice between a guaranteed check upfront or the potential for bigger long-term earnings if their design becomes one of the community’s favorites.

For more in-depth information, check out Valve’s official article release here. In addition, stay tuned for more Counter-Strike esports and in-game news.