Who says women can’t rival men in esports? Think again! In the recent Hearthstone Major Championship at Blizzcon 2019, a female player beat the best players in the world to lift the trophy and the grand prize of $200,000 (₹1.4 Crore).

Female Hearthstone Player 01
Xiaomeng “VKLiooon” Li is your new Hearthstone champion

Even more impressive, Xiaomeng “VKLiooon” Li came to the event through the open qualifier and made it past the Blizzcon group stage. Not just that, VKLiooon exceeded everyone’s expectations and swept her opponent 3-0 in the grand final.

Female Hearthstone Player 03
No one can deny female gamers can be as good as men, especially in a card game like Hearthstone

An impressive journey

Her journey started at the Gold Open Tianjin Master Group season 1 playoffs where she topped the board. After winning the Chinese qualifier event, she earned her ticket to the Global Championship in Blizzcon 2019 this November. However, she still had to go through one more qualifier to enter the Global Championship. Against all the odds, the female Hearthstone player made it in.

Right after qualifying for the event, VKLiooon had a few encouraging words to the fans, especially for female gamers:

Female Hearthstone Player 02
VKLiooon gave a few words of encouragement

However, she made it much further than that, climbing all the way to the top. In the grand final, VKLiooon made a quick work of Brian ‘bloodyface’ Eason and swept the series 3-0 right on the big stage.

Female Hearthstone Player 04
A female gamer whose name will be engraved in the history of Hearthstone

With this victory, VKLiooon has officially become the best Hearthstone player in the world. After earning a massive prize of $200,000 (₹1.4 Crore), she has become the second highest-earning female esports player, just below the Starcraft player Sasha ‘Scarlett ‘ Hostyn.

After her convincing victory, VKLiooon took to the world audience and said another inspirational line: “just forget gender and go for it.” This is indeed inspiring for female gamers worldwide.