Taiwanese player wins Hearthstone World Championship, takes home US$250,000 prize

台灣選手贏得爐石世界錦標賽冠軍獲25萬美元獎金

Taiwanese player becomes first Asian to win Hearthstone Championship Tour World Championship, takes home US$250,000 prize


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) -- A Taiwanese player on Sunday (Jan. 21) won the Hearthstone Championship Tour World Championship in Amsterdam, becoming the first player from the Asia-Pacific region to do so, earning him a massive US$250,000 cash prize in the process.

Chen Wei-lin (陳威霖), who goes by the handle Tom60229, took home the top prize in the largest Hearthstone tournament in the world, the Hearthstone World Tour Championship, in which 16 of the best players from across the globe out of a pool of millions battle it out for a share of a US$1 million prize pool. Hearthstone is a turn-based online collectible video card game the object of which is to have one's selected hero cast spells or summon minions eventually reduce their opponents' health down to zero.

Initially down 2-0 to American rival Fr0zen, Chen staged a dramatic comeback to capture the championship with a final score of 3-2.


Chen waving to fans. (Image from @FlashWolves Facebook page)

When asked how he felt about being the first player from the Asia-Pacific region to win the championship, Chen said, "This was this important, but the most important is that I won the championship."

When asked about how he came back from a poor performance in 2014, in which he did not win a single match, to win it all this year, Chen said: "Ever since losing in 2014, all I've been doing has been focused on getting back on the stage and at least play a good game. Now that I've won the championship I feel really lucky."

After graduating from National Taiwan University with a major of Economics, Chen served in the military before joining the Flash Wolves to compete on the gaming circuit. Chen originally did not want to work in securities or banking, but rather we wanted something related to video game development and it was when he started playing Hearthstone that he was noticed by the Flash Wolves, who eventually invited him to join, reported ETtoday.