Reviewed 22 September 2026
StatTrak, Souvenir, and Contraband: three labels, one still created
Each of the three labels alters a skin while its paint name stays put, and just one is still being created.
StatTrak turns up on about one case finish in ten
A StatTrak weapon has a kill counter on its side. Among case skins, roughly one finish in ten is offered with it, and the price is usually higher than the plain version at an identical float. The counter cannot be bolted on later, nor peeled off and sold on its own.
Collections that drop from maps frequently lack StatTrak entirely. Take the Desert Eagle Blaze and the AWP Dragon Lore.
Souvenir is a different item, not a 'better StatTrak'
These items are opened from souvenir packages, each linked to one major and one map collection, and the event's gold stickers come attached. Buyers treat a souvenir Dragon Lore as a separate object from the regular one, with a crowd of its own.
Phoenix, Fracture and other case collections have no souvenir editions of their rifles.
Contraband: the Howl, pulled from circulation
Contraband is the rarity Valve applies to a finish it has withdrawn, and when people say the word they usually mean the M4A4 Howl. It debuted in 2014 as a Covert paint within The Huntsman Collection.
After a dispute over copyright in the artwork, Valve pulled the Howl from the case and labeled the surviving copies Contraband. Nobody can unbox a fresh one or get it from a trade-up. Copies already in inventories keep trading.
Questions
Can you still unbox an M4A4 Howl?
No. The Howl was pulled from the Huntsman case by Valve and tagged Contraband, though existing copies are still tradable.
Does StatTrak change the float?
No. The counter is a separate property, so float and wear work the same on either version.