Hearthstone Global Champion Liooon hopes to inspire new wave of female gamers

Xiaomeng “Liooon” Li made history on the weekend by becoming the first-ever Hearthstone Global Champion from China and the first female to win a Blizzcon title.

The 23-year-old was flawless in her first two series, defeating Chen “tom60229” Wei Lin and Chris “Fenomeno” Tsakopoulos without dropping a game in the best-of-three series. She traded games with Kevin “Casie” Eberlein in the semifinals stage but eventually came out on top in the best-of-five series (3-2) to gain entry to the Finals.

Liooon protected her Druid deck in the banning phase and was able to take Hunter and Shaman decks with her, as well, to round out her three decks for the best-of-five series.

However, the series didn’t require five games, as Liooon managed to sweep Brian “bloodyface” Eason’s Shaman, Druid, and Warrior decks in just three games to become the new Hearthstone Global Champion.

Following her impressive title-winning effort, Liooon shared a message with the fans in attendance.

“I’m here, with all the support from the fans,” VkLiooon said through a translator.

“I want to say to all the girls out there who have a dream for esports — for competition, for glory — if you want to do it and you believe in yourself, you should forget your gender and go for it.”

“I really love Hearthstone,” Liooon said in an interview with ESPN.