Norse Collection -A mystical story

When it comes to norse mythology, the most popular is the Story of Ragnarök, the end of the World. And for some in the Counter Strike community, the end of CS:GO in September this year felt the same. But there is also good news, because the world will rise again at the end of Ragnarök. At the end of this year, a new era will also begin for our community.

Goodbye CS:GO thank you for everything, and welcome to CS2! from GamerPay.

The Norse Collection

The Norse collection was released on the 18th of November 2019 and contains 18 skins, which are based on nordic mythology. In this article we are going to tell you three stories about the mythological background behind these unique CS skins.

Let's start with one of the most unique and thought after AWP-skins.

AWP | Gungnir

Shortly after the Norse collection was released, it was clear that the AWP | Gungnir, which was the frist pearlescent skin, would become one of the community's new favorite.

Not only because there is hardly a better theme for an AWP, it also impresses with its beautiful metallic, icy blue color, which immediately gives you the feeling of snowy, rough landscapes.

The price for this cold beauty is not for everyone though. You should definitely be willing to spend more than €5,500. For a Factory New the price is around €12,000 as of late 2023.

If you go for a Battle Scarred version, the blue color and the patterns are retained, but the light grey parts are no longer present. In Well Worn, this skin looks the worst, as the light grey color is only partially peeled off. These areas therefore look very scratched.

Now we come to it’s story.

“Gungnir never misses its target, no matter the skill or strength of the wielder.” (Edda) Well, it's not quite that simple to awp in Counter Strike 2, but let us tell you the story of Gungnir. Gungnir is Odin's weapon, as it says in the introductory sentences, a spear that never misses its target. But how did Odin get this pretty handy weapon?

According to the prose edda, it all started with Loki, an Æsir, who is known for his charm, his malice and that he will bring the end of the world.

Loki cuts off the golden blonde hair of Thor's sleeping wife (Sif). To protect himself from Thor's revenge, he tricks the two dwarf families into forging three gifts for Thor, Odin and Freyr, one of which he orders to be a head of pure gold hair for Sif.

Both dwarf families compete to create the three gifts for the gods, of which the three gifts of the Ivaldi siblings (Brokkr, Sindir) became particularly famous. The spear Gungnir, Thor's hammer Mjölnir and Skidbladnir, a foldable ship for Freyr.

Negev | Mjölnir

In terms of roughness and precision, the Negev is definitely the "hammer" of CS2. The Negev | Mjölnir is also in the rare and expensive segment and will cost you around €2,000. The reason for this is that Mjölnir is used in trade-up contracts to get the Gungnir.

At the moment there are only very few of them for sale and most of them are Factory New, which means that the question of condition doesn't really arise in the first place.

We already talked about how Thor got his beloved hammer. But there is also a nice sidestory. When you see a picture of Thor and his hammer, he always has it in one hand. A normal quarrel hammer was wielded with two hands, however, due to the enormous amount of force required to swing it. Let's go back to the story, when the dwarfs were making the gifts for the gods.

After Loki told the Ivaldi brothers to make the presents and show the gods that they are the best blacksmiths they also made a deal with Loki. If the Ivaldi brothers win the competition, they get Loki's head. Loki agreed to the deal, but tried his best to sabotage the brothers. Disguised as a fly, he stung one brother so badly during the production that he could no longer maintain the forge's temperature. As a result, the Hammer`s handle could not be completed and was only half as long as it should have been. 

On the Skin you can also see the two goats who pull Thor's chariots. Tanngnjostr (teeth thin) and Tanngrisnir (teeth grinder). The special thing about these two goats are, that Thor can eat them and after putting their bones in a cover overnight, they are alive again.

Desert Eagle | Emerald Jörmungandr

The Desert Eagle | Emerald Jörmungandr will introduce our third story for today. The pattern of the world snake biting its own tail was also used for other skins, which we will come to later.

The Deagle is definitely not to be sneezed at. Unlike its two previous skins, it is fortunately not quite as expensive. It is currently being traded for around 200€ upwards and comes with different pattern. The interesting thing about the pattern is the position of Jörmungandr's head. For Example on the Tip like Pattern #726 or on the handle like Pattern #741. There is also the possibility to get a Pattern with two or three Jörmungandr heads on one Deagle. We will leave it at that, as this topic around patterns alone could fill a whole article.

The End of the World. 

Jörmungandr, also known as Midgard Serpent or World Serpent is a large Worm or a sea serpent, who lives in the Sea that surrounds Midgard (our World), and bites in his own tail like a ouroboros. When the time of Ragnarök comes, it will release its tail and will poison the sea and the sky.

But how did it actually get there?

Jörmungandr is the middle child of Loki and the giantess Angrboða. Its older brother is wolf Fenrir and his little sister the goddess Hel. These three somewhat unusual children of Loki were a thorn in Odin's side and he decided to take the three of them to himself and render them harmless under his supervision. The Asen decided to throw the then much younger and smaller Jörmungandr into the sea and hoped for the best. When the end comes, Jörmungandr will rise up and kill Thor in battle, but lose its own life in the fight.

Other Jörmungandr skins

The same pattern of the Deagle is also available for the AUG | Flame Jörmungandr except that, as the name suggests, this time the pattern is in the colors red and orange. For this one you pay around €250 in FN. It gets really scratchy, when the condition gets worse.

The P90 | Astral Jörmungandr is pretty much the same, like the AUG.

Conclusion

The skins we have presented to you today from the Norse Collection are not the cheapest, but the Gungnir and the Deagle in particular are real Nordic beauties as play skins.

In any case, we hope you enjoyed our little insight into the mythological background of these skins. If this article has awakened your desire to explore the CS2 universe for skins, make sure you go to GamerPay.gg.

We wish you all a good start to the new year with CS2!