New Partner: CptnKraken
Welcome, CptnKraken!
The CSGO skin guide aficionado has now joined arms with GamerPay.
Kraken has quite a lot of guides for various CSGO skins. Knives, Gloves, AWPs, but all of them pattern-based!
His steam bio states: “I MAKE CS:GO SKIN PATTERN GUIDES FOR THE COMMUNITY”
And all in caps to show his passion and his love for CS and all the unique skins in it.
If you were looking at guides for the best pattern of many skins, gloves or even some knives, chances are high it was written by this eight-armed writer!
But who exactly is he?
What is under his little pirate hat?
Let us take a look at CptnKraken!
Would you tell us more about yourself?
My real name is Matt - but I obviously go by CptnKraken everywhere online, and I have been playing CS since the 1.6 days back when I was still in high school.
Some of my favourite game series (that aren’t CS) are Half-Life, Bioshock, Fallout, and the Metro games.
The only other hobbies I really have are collecting movies and building Gundam kits.
Why did you decide to do skin guide articles?
I have always been fascinated by how unique Counter-Strike skins were - and I was having a difficult time finding information on some of them.
More specifically, I was looking for a “Cyanbit” and couldn’t find any sort of definitive “tier list.” At that time everyone seemed to just claim that theirs was a “Max Cyan” - so I decided to do my own research.
After I finished it, I decided to share my findings with the community in the form of a Steam guide - so other people wouldn’t have to go through all 1000 patterns as I did.
And that is kind of where it all just took off - I really just wanted to make skin collecting more accessible!
Where do your ideas for guides come from?
I have had a lot of people message me with what guides they would like to see over the years, but to be honest - I usually just do whatever skins I am most interested in at the time.
Some of the guides have really blown up and gotten a lot of love, and some of them have not been nearly as popular - like the “Desert Eagle | Emerald Jörmungandr” which a lot of people thought I was crazy for making.
What skin surprised you the most after you researched it?
Definitely the XM1014 | XOXO! I think that is easily my favourite guide that I have done because of how unique the pattern categories are.
It is the first skin I show to people who have never seen CS skins before because it can look like so many different skins based on the patterns you can get!
There are patterns that are almost completely pink, yellow, and blue - and all of them have so many unique designs.
Check out the XM1014 | XOXO guide by CaptnKraken
One of Matt’s guides on Steam
Do you prefer pattern or non-pattern-based skins?
Pattern-based because of how unique they can be, and when you combine patterns with different wear conditions - you can get some really special skins ( like the Charizard pattern XM1014 | Blue Tire I found!)
The Pattern ID is 51, and it only is visible with a float value of around 0.17-0.21-ish, because this is not on the normal skin but it is its scratch pattern. So be warned!
Kraken has found this pattern during an operation. And now quite a few of them exist.
What is your favourite skin combo?
That’s a really tough question because it has changed a lot over the years, and there are combos that mean a lot to me like #247 Overprints + #956 “Cyanbit” (which I still think is one of the best in the game),
But if I had to pick just one combo - it would have to be Vices + Karambit Fade.
How do you think CS2 will revolutionise skins compared to CSGO?
It’s really hard to tell since Valve is keeping everything so secret - but something I am really excited about is the possibility of skins on the Zeus, Grenades, and maybe even the bomb!
Obviously, most of this is just speculation, but they did add the inspect animations.
Also, the lighting and the finishes in CS2 seem to be much more advanced - so I think we will see skins that interact with lighting conditions more, similar to the new FAMAS | Waters of Nephthys.
What was the thought process behind your Blue Gem sticker?
I really just wanted to create something that the skin community would love, and I thought it was crazy that there were no blue gem stickers already considering how Blue Gems are such a huge part of Counter Strike’s history.
I have always loved unique secrets hidden in the scratch pattern of stickers - so I decided to add a little easter egg built into the design of the gem.
Since being added, I have uploaded a design for a Ruby sticker, and I am working on some other “gem” related ones as well!
CptnKraken and b3d made this sticker as a collaboration and it got added to the game on 16 August 2022 with the 10 Year Birthday Sticker Capsule.
And how does it feel having it added to the game?
Honestly, it has been one of the best experiences of my life so far!
To be able to see something I made inside a game that means so much to me feels so great, and I am so thankful for all the support I have received from this awesome community.
What are your 5 favourite skins in CSGO?
2. XM1014 | XOXO “XXX” Pattern #394
3. MAC-10 | Last Dive #509
4. M4A1-S | Welcome to the Jungle
5. Galil AR | Phoenix Blacklight #289
Conclusion
We would like to thank CptnKraken once again for all of his cooperation and all of his help!
The whole team is quite honoured that we can use his intellectual property and work to guide and help more people understand and find their favourite skins. Not to mention to also get special and unique patterns that are just for their liking.
If you want to read more about his guides, be sure to check out the links down below.
Matt’s socials and his in-depth guides on Steam:
CptnKraken’s Twitter
CptnKraken’s Guides
CptnKraken’s Linktree
