Liooon
| Liooon | |
|---|---|
| Current team | |
| Team | VK |
| Games | Hearthstone |
| Status | Active |
| Personal information | |
| Name | 李晓萌 (Li Xiaomeng) |
| Born | May 12, 1996 |
| Nationality | Chinese |
| Team history | |
| 2019 – present | VK |
Li Xiaomeng (born May 12, 1996, Chinese: 李晓萌), better known by her in-game name Liooon, is a Chinese professional Hearthstone player. She is the first woman to win the Hearthstone Grandmasters Global Finals and to win a BlizzCon Esports tournament. On November 2, 2019, representing China[1][2] in Hearthstone Global Finals, she defeated Bloodyface (Brian Eason, representing United States) to become the Hearthstone Global champion[3], claiming a prize of $200,000 (USD). She was the first woman to win a BlizzCon Global Championship[4], and the first Hearthstone Global Champion from mainland China since the start of tournaments in 2014. In an interview[5] after winning the championship, she shared a story that more than two years ago, she went to her first Hearthstone tournament as a backup for the game. While waiting in line, she was mocked by a male player, who said that: "If you are a girl, you should not wait in line here. It's not for you."[5] She then gave a sentimental speech[5] for women in Esports: "I want to say for all the girls out there who have a dream for Esports competition, for glory, if you want to do it and you believe in yourself, you should just forget your gender and go for it."[6]
Her Battle.net name "VKLiooon" is composed of the name of her team, "VK", and a deliberately misspelling of Lion, although her own Chinese name is 萌, which means cute in modern Mandarin Chinese, as influenced by Japanese comics culture.
References
- ^ Hearthstone Global Finals - Player Spotlights: VKliooon, retrieved 2019-11-04
- ^ "Sina Visitor System". passport.weibo.com. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
- ^ Esports, Hearthstone (2019-11-02). "A CLEAN SWEEP!! VKLIOOON HAS WON THE HEARTHSTONE GLOBAL FINALS!!!pic.twitter.com/3PwNX0qcBq". @HSesports. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
- ^ "VKLiooon Becomes First Woman to win a BlizzCon Championship". dbltap.com. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
- ^ a b c Hearthstone Global Finals - Finals - VKLiooon vs bloodyface, retrieved 2019-11-04
- ^ Esports, Hearthstone (2019-11-02). ""This is the best way to strike back at those people who doubted me only because I am a girl. It proves that girls can be strong pro players, just as guys do." - Xiaomeng "VKLiooon" Lipic.twitter.com/1PQczUHwim". @HSesports. Retrieved 2019-11-04.
