Hearthstone World Championship winner, tom60229, announces his retirement cover image

Hearthstone World Championship winner, tom60229, announces his retirement

Tom60229 also talked about his Hearthstone esports journey starting in 2014.

Hearthstone World Championship 2017 winner Wei Lin "tom60229" Chen has retired, according to Taiwanese esports team Flash Wolves.

The esports team thanked tom60229 for staying with them for seven years as a Hearthstone player. “We will carry your spirit forward to the next stage,” the account added. 

Tom60229's Hearthstone Esports Journey

Over on Facebook, tom60229 wrote a long post detailing his Hearthstone esports journey. He recalled how he began playing the game back in 2014 and how he duked it out against Chu "FrozenIce" Shih Kuang in the Taiwan Hearthstone World Championship finals. 

Tom60229 also referred to the ASUS ROG Summer 2015, ONOG Summer Circuit Finals, and the StarLadder StarSeries - Season 1 International Qualifier events in his post. He achieved first place in ASUS ROG Summer 2015 and the ONOG Summer Circuit Finals, recalling how he faced Aleksandr "Kolento" Malsh during the latter tournament’s last match. 

Tom60229's Hearthstone trophies. Image via tom60229.
Tom60229's Hearthstone trophies. Image via tom60229.

More Hearthstone battles were fought during the SEA Majors 2016 - Malaysia event alongside the ones leading up to the 2017 Hearthstone World Championship. He won the incredible World Championship title in January 2018 by defeating Frank "Fr0zen" Zhang in the finals, taking down the latter’s Jade Druid in a mirror match. 

After securing this achievement, tom60229 acknowledged how his hard work paid off. He also acknowledged his fellow competitors.

Fr0zen versus tom60229. Image via Blizzard Entertainment.
Fr0zen versus tom60229. Image via Blizzard Entertainment.

“It’s been an honor to play against some of the best Hearthstone players in the world,” tom60229 said. “All the hard work I put in this year paid off–I feel I really deserved this win.”

Other tournaments that tom60229 referred to in his Facebook post included ones such as Masters Tour 2019 Las Vegas, Grandmasters 2020 Season 2 for the Asia-Pacific region, as well as Grandmasters 2021 Season 1.

A Place in Hearthstone Esports History

Tom60229 made esports history as the first representative from the Asia-Pacific region to win a Hearthstone World Championship. In a post-match interview, tom60229 noted how although it’s important to have won for the region, it’s also important that he won as the champion.

I think ever since I lost in 2014, the last three years–all I’ve been trying to do is to get back on to the stage and be able to play [well]. And to be able to win this championship means so much to me–and I feel so lucky.

Tom60229 in 2018

During the fanfare, he thought back to the very beginning of his Hearthstone esports journey. “I think ever since I lost in 2014, the last three years–all I’ve been trying to do is to get back on to the stage and be able to play [well]. And to be able to win this championship means so much to me–and I feel so lucky.” 

Throughout the years, tom60229 has proven to be one of the most incredible Hearthstone players. In addition to getting first place in several tournaments, he has certainly earned a spot in the Hearthstone esports hall of fame.

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