What are Steam trading cards and how do they work

Most games with trading card support have a set of them, usually somewhere between five and fifteen unique cards, each one artwork tied to that specific game. They live in a Steam inventory like any other item and can be traded, sold or crafted.

Once every card in a set is held, it can be crafted into a badge for that game. Crafting gives Steam XP, a profile background or emoticon is sometimes unlocked with it, and the cards used are consumed in the process.

Cards have no effect inside the game itself. They exist entirely on the Steam side, as a community and profile feature layered on top of owning or playing the game.