MissRage on IEM Cologne 2024: “Connecting With the Community, Cheering for Your Favorite Teams Together. It's Beautiful.”

There’s a lot to take in at S-Tier Counter-Strike tournaments. From getting caught up in the matches to coming face-to-face with pros, there’s a reason why fans from all over the world converge at venues like Cologne’s LANXESS Arena. At IEM Cologne 2024, aside from being able to witness the very best that Counter-Strike has to offer, it’s a place for the community to come together, in-person. At the heart are often content creators, who have cultivated their own passionate communities under the banner of Counter-Strike, FPS titles, or gaming in general.

In a slightly quieter section of the LANXESS, I caught up with one of Counter-Strike’s most prominent female streamers. Hailing from Austria, Julia “MissRage” Kreuzer, has fostered her online community over roughly 11 years. While she dabbles in variety gaming here and there, her heart is with Counter-Strike and FPS games. 

GINX TV: What was it about Counter-Strike that really clicked with you?

MissRage: It doesn't matter if you're a player or a spectator, it is a super simple game to understand and watch. But what is it that makes it so interesting? If you play a game like League of Legends and you've never played it before and you don't know anything about it, it's really hard to follow. But Counter-Strike is really simple. You understand it within 5 or 10 minutes of watching. But at the same time it has a really huge skill level, obviously. You can see how fast people are and how smart they are. It's a lot of different things that play together.  

And on top of that, it’s a team game. So it doesn't matter if you're an individual that's extremely good. If you don't have four other teammates that complement that, you will not go far. So it's like the combination of team play, individual skill and also the simplicity of the game itself. I think there will never be any game that can compete with that. 

GINX TV: What does it mean to you to be here at IEM Cologne 2024? 

MissRage: Oh, a lot, actually. So, first of all, it's my first Counter-Strike 2 event. I've not been at a tournament since the new game was out. I have been to a lot of CSGO events, so the old version of the game, which was super fun. And I know a lot of the players, because they sometimes played with my boyfriend years ago. For example, right now, two of the favorite teams are NAVI and Vitality. Three or four of the players actually used to play together with my boyfriend, So I'm torn on who to cheer for.

And obviously, everybody knows IEM Cologne. It's the Cathedral of Counter-Strike. It's the big event, like, next to the majors. I think for the players, for the viewers, for a live event, you could probably ask every single pro player and 90%  would say:  if there's one event that you should visit in real life, 90% would say Cologne. First of all, it's really well organized. It's also very central, so it's easy to access for a lot of people, especially from Europe. And it's just the whole atmosphere, the people. I've been at Katowice before, I've been to tournaments in Sweden, in Canada, and so on. But it [IEM Cologne] is just such a huge crowd.

I think you have to experience it personally to understand how great it is. I'm here with a friend right now, it is her first time being at a Counter-Strike event as well. She doesn't even play the game herself, she just watches it a lot. And for her as well, it's incredible. I don't think there's anything that can compare with the feeling of watching in Cologne. 

MissRage has also been partnered with Monster Energy for what she estimates to be over five years, a brand often thought of as synonymous with gaming culture, and an important sponsor for IEM Cologne 2024.

GINX TV: How's that been, working with Monster Energy?

MissRage: It's like everybody is so chill and laid back. They're always open to working on some cool projects together. They're open for ideas. They invite you to cool events like this, with IEM. It feels like a family more than like a business partner.

GINX TV: It's a nice kind of relationship to have. Does it help you feel more connected with fans as well? 

MissRage: For sure! And they understand the scene. Like, with every person I work with, it doesn't matter if it's a sports athlete or something like that, they always care a lot about understanding the community around it and the events and what's important. The main focus is always you as a partner, to have fun and have a great time connecting with the audience. And that just makes working together super easy, super chill and really authentic as well.

GINX TV: Having that authenticity is so important.

MissRage: Yeah, 100%. 

GINX TV: As a streamer, how important is it for you to get to these events and meet people, meet your community…

MissRage: Especially after the whole COVID thing, we haven't had a lot of events. I think it's the first big event that I'm at, actually, after COVID.  And it's just great to see the people that either watch you almost every single day, or that you’ve known for years. For example, yesterday, I met a friend of mine, where a viewer had turned into a friend, who I hadn’t seen in, I think, six or seven years. But he had been watching my stream for the past 11 years. And he saw online that I'm at the event, and he's like: “Hey, let's meet up, let's have a chat!”  

And just random people coming up to you, saying hey, even if they're maybe not watching currently. But it's even people like: “Hey, I know you from like eight years ago!”

And you see the same faces as well, over and over again, the same people at the events.  It's also cool to see new people, joining a community, seeing how Counter-Strike grows. People that maybe started with Valorant and then came over to Counter-Strike. That’s also  a really huge thing. And then seeing the difference between those communities as well — it's just beautiful. But yeah, always connecting with the community and cheering for your favorite teams together. It's beautiful. Nothing can beat it.

IEM Cologne 2024 might be over, but the action isn't. You can catch MissRage on her Twitch channel, and can check out her weekly stream schedule over on X.