Liooon

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 (Luna 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.