LemonNation

LemonNation
Retired
LemonNation
Background Information
Name	Daerek Hart
Country of Birth	; United States
Birthday	June 15, 1989 (age 35)
Residency	NANorth America
Competitive
Role	; Manager
Favorite Champs	; ; ; ; ;
Soloqueue IDs	C9 BananaNation, C9 HyperX Dora, C9 LemonNation, C9 Lemon, Nom Nom Lemon, Quantic Lemon NT, oRb LemonNation, ShawnOfTheDead, 넌나한태오빠야 (KR)
Social Media & Links

Overview

Tournament Results

Stats

Match History

Daerek "LemonNation" Hart is a retired League of Legends esports player, previously head of events for Radiance. He is best known for being the support and later head coach for Cloud9.

Team History

Combine Role Swaps:No|Yes

Dates:Approx|Exact

	Team	Start	End
NA	⁠⁠HOODSTOMPGRAVESGG	≈Mar 2012≈2012-03-??	Apr 20122012-04-15	≈1mo 14d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Orbit Gaming	Apr 20122012-04-15^[2]	Nov 20122012-11-01^[1]	6mo 16d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Quantic Gaming	Nov 20122012-11-11^[6]	Dec 20122012-12-04^[3]	23d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Team NomNom	Dec 20122012-12-04	Jan 20132013-01-08	1mo 4d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Cloud9	Jan 20132013-01-08	Apr 20132013-04-01^[7]	2mo 24d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Quantic Gaming	Apr 20132013-04-01^[9]	May 20132013-05-23^[8]	1mo 22d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Cloud9	May 20132013-05-23^[11]	Oct 20152015-10-23^[10]	2yr 5mo ejel
NA	⁠⁠Cloud9	Oct 20152015-10-23^[10]	Apr 20162016-04-22	5mo 30d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Cloud9	Apr 20162016-04-22	May 20162016-05-18^[12]	26d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Cloud9 Challenger	Apr 20162016-04-22	Jan 20172017-01-06^[13]	8mo 14d ejel
NA	⁠⁠FlyQuest	Jan 20172017-01-09^[15]	Nov 20172017-11-20^[14]	10mo 11d ejel
NA	⁠⁠OpTic Gaming	Dec 20172017-12-18^[17]	Mar 20182018-03-23^[16]	3mo 5d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Radiance	Mar 20192019-03-18	≈Jul 2020≈2020-07-??	≈1yr 4mo ejel

	Team	Start	End
NA	⁠⁠HOODSTOMPGRAVESGG	≈Mar 2012≈2012-03-??	Apr 20122012-04-15	≈1mo 14d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Orbit Gaming	Apr 20122012-04-15^[2]	Nov 20122012-11-01^[1]	6mo 16d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Quantic Gaming	Nov 20122012-11-11^[6]	Dec 20122012-12-04^[3]	23d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Team NomNom	Dec 20122012-12-04	Jan 20132013-01-08	1mo 4d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Cloud9	Jan 20132013-01-08	Apr 20132013-04-01^[7]	2mo 24d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Quantic Gaming	Apr 20132013-04-01^[9]	May 20132013-05-23^[8]	1mo 22d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Cloud9	May 20132013-05-23^[11]	Oct 20152015-10-23^[10]	2yr 5mo ejel
NA	⁠⁠Cloud9	Oct 20152015-10-23^[10]	Apr 20162016-04-22	5mo 30d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Cloud9	Apr 20162016-04-22	May 20162016-05-18^[12]	26d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Cloud9 Challenger	Apr 20162016-04-22	Jan 20172017-01-06^[13]	8mo 14d ejel
NA	⁠⁠FlyQuest	Jan 20172017-01-09^[15]	Nov 20172017-11-20^[14]	10mo 11d ejel
NA	⁠⁠OpTic Gaming	Dec 20172017-12-18^[17]	Mar 20182018-03-23^[16]	3mo 5d ejel
NA	⁠⁠Radiance	Mar 20192019-03-18	≈Jul 2020≈2020-07-??	≈1yr 4mo ejel

News

2012
2013
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020

NA	⁠⁠HOOD	March (approx.), Vech, YoDa, LiNk, Hoodstomp, and LemonNation join. e
NA	⁠⁠HOOD	April 15, Vech, YoDa, LiNk, Hoodstomp, and LemonNation leave. e
NA	⁠⁠ORB	April 15, Vech, YoDa, LiNk, Hoodstomp, and LemonNation join.^[2] e
NA	⁠⁠ORB	November 1, ⁠⁠Orbit Gaming is disbanded. Yazuki, Hai L9, Nientonsoh, WildTurtle, and LemonNation leave.^[1] e
NA	⁠⁠QTC	November 11, ⁠⁠Quantic Gaming acquires the former roster of ⁠⁠Orbit Gaming. Yazuki, Hai, Nientonsoh, WildTurtle, and LemonNation join.^[6] e
NA	⁠⁠QTC	December 4, ⁠⁠Quantic Gaming is disbanded. Yazuki, Hai, Nientonsoh, WildTurtle, and LemonNation leave.^[3]^[4]^[5] e
NA	⁠⁠NOMN	December 4, ⁠⁠Team NomNom is formed by the roster of ⁠⁠Quantic Gaming. Yazuki, Hai, Nientonsoh, WildTurtle, and LemonNation join. e

NA	⁠⁠NOMN	January 8, Yazuki, Hai, Nientonsoh, WildTurtle, and LemonNation leave. e
NA	⁠⁠C9	January 8, Yazuki, Hai, Nientonsoh, WildTurtle, and LemonNation join. e
NA	⁠⁠C9	April 1, Balls, Meteos, Hai, and LemonNation leave.^[7] e
NA	⁠⁠QTC	April 1, Balls, Meteos, Hai, and LemonNation rejoin.^[9] e
NA	⁠⁠QTC	May 23, ⁠⁠Quantic Gaming is disbanded. Balls, Meteos, Hai, Sneaky, and LemonNation leave.^[8] e
NA	⁠⁠C9	May 23, ⁠⁠Cloud9 is reformed after the roster's departure from ⁠⁠Quantic Gaming. Sneaky and Jack (Chief Executive Officer) join. Balls, Meteos, Hai, and LemonNation rejoin.^[11] e

NA

⁠

⁠C9

October 23,
LemonNation retires and moves to coach.^[10]

e

NA	⁠⁠C9	April 22, Altec joins as substitute. Hai (Support to Sub/Mid) changes position. LemonNation (Coach to Sub/Support) changes position. Balls and Rush move to substitutes. e
NA	⁠⁠C9C	April 22, Balls, Rush, Hai, Altec, and LemonNation join. Licorice, Morning, Thinkcard, bobqinXD, kt Smurf, and Fragnat1c join as substitutes. e
NA	⁠⁠C9	May 18, Smoothie joins. LemonNation leaves.^[12] e

NA	⁠⁠C9C	January 6, Balls, Hai, Altec, LemonNation, Bubbadub, Bunny FuFuu, Smoothie, and Thinkcard (Head Coach) leave.^[13] e
NA	⁠⁠FLY	January 9, Balls, Moon, Hai, Altec, LemonNation, and Thinkcard (Head Coach) join. bigfatlp and Remilia join as substitutes.^[15] e
NA	⁠⁠FLY	November 20, LemonNation leaves.^[14] e
NA	⁠⁠OPT	December 18, zig, Akaadian, PowerOfEvil, Arrow, and LemonNation join.^[17] e

NA

⁠

⁠OPT

March 23,
zig and
LemonNation leave.^[16]

e

NA

⁠

⁠RAD

March 18, LemonNation (Head of Events) joins.

e

NA

⁠

⁠RAD

July (approx.), LemonNation (Head of Events) leaves.

e

Biography

Daerek was raised in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, where he grew up playing video games.

2012 Season

As he progressed in League of Legends, he became known in the high elo ladder for being an only support player, particularly for playing only Janna for a long period of time. He eventually reached rank 1 in solo queue in Season 2 only playing support. It was during this time that he was invited to join the team HOODSTOMPGRAVESGG, whose roster consisted of Hoodstomp, LiNk, YoDa, and Vech. Soon after their formation, the team was picked up by the Orbit Gaming organization in April 2012. Although LemonNation and his team went through roster shortly after joining the organization, they still managed to earn themselves a strong reputation by consistently placing high in tournaments they entered.

In November 2012, LemonNation and his teammates decided to leave the organization. Having become a well-known team by this point, they were acquired by Quantic Gaming. However, the team's play under this organization was short-lived, as they soon left the brand. The players went on to compete under the name Team NomNom, which later became Cloud 9.

2013 Season

Still playing support in January 2013, Daerek's team came close to qualifying for the first season of Riot's new professional league, Riot Season 3 NA Championship Series, but were unsuccessful in the end. Adding new players to the roster after others had left, LemonNation and company were once again picked up by the revamped Quantic Gaming. This new team was considered one of the top amateur teams in the competitive scene, winning the 2013 MLG Winter Championship Summer Promotion Qualifier. Afterwards, the Quantic team achieved what they had previously failed at and earned a spot at the Season 3 LCS Summer Promotion, beating compLexity Gaming and therefore becoming a new team in the LCS for the summer split. In May 2013, Lemon and the team decided to part ways with the organization and reform to play under their old name, Cloud 9.

Under their new organization, LemonNation and his team went on to have an incredibly strong performance in the LCS Season 3 Summer Split, ending the regular season with a 25-3 record and eventually defeating TSM 3-0 in the playoff finals. This would be the start of Cloud 9's domination in the LCS for the next two splits, as well as their rivalry with TSM.

2015 Preseason

Cloud 9 was the North American team to be fan-voted into IEM San Jose.^[18] In the tournament, they defeated paiN Gaming 2-0, Alliance 2-1, and then Unicorns of Love 3-0 to win the tournament.

2015 Season

Due to their IEM San Jose victory, Cloud9 qualified for IEM Katowice in March. There, they lost their only two games, first to GE Tigers and then to yoe Flash Wolves, and finished in 7th/8th place. Domestically, they underperformed at the start of the season, and were in 8th place at the end of the second week of the LCS Season 5 Spring Split. However, they managed to improve over the course of the season, ending with a second-place finish behind Team SoloMid and a playoff bye. After beating Team Liquid 3-2 in the semifinals, Cloud9 lost to TSM 1-3 in the finals and finished the split in second place.

Cloud9 replaced mid laner Hai with Incarnati0n at the start of the Summer Split due to Hai's retirement. They performed poorly for the first five weeks of the split and replaced Meteos with Hai going into the sixth week. With Hai back on the team, Cloud9's record improved from 3-7 to 6-12 by the end of the split, and they finished in 7th place after a tie-breaker victory against Team 8, narrowly avoiding relegations and retaining their Championship Points, though they did not qualify for playoffs. In the Regional Finals Gauntlet, Cloud9 reverse-swept both Gravity Gaming and Team Impulse before beating Team Liquid 3-1 in the finals. Their fourteen games played over the course of three days gave them North America's third seed to the 2015 Season World Championship, Cloud9's third consecutive Worlds appearance. LemonNation was criticized for his continuing picks of Karma, which he played four times during the gauntlet and lost with three times.

Considered an underdog at Worlds, Cloud9 were placed into Group B along with Fnatic, ahq, and Invictus Gaming and expected to place last. Instead, they surprised with an undefeated 3-0 in the first week. In the second week, Cloud9 needed only one win to advance to the quarterfinals but were unable to find it, losing four games in a row, including a tiebreaker loss to ahq. They placed third in their group, ahead of only Invictus Gaming.

2016 Season

LemonNation had stated on Reddit in early July that he intended to retire after Worlds,^[19] and in October, Cloud9 officially announced his retirement, adding that they were holding open tryouts for both the jungle and support positions, with Hai to play the unfilled role.^[20] However he later came out of retirement and joined Cloud9 Challenger in April of 2017. The team was very dominant in the 2017 NA CS Summer Season and finished 1st in the regular split. They won the playoffs with a 3-2 win over Team Liquid Academy. In the Summer Promotion Tournament, C9C defeated NRG Esports 3-0 and qualified for the NA LCS.

2017 Season

In January of 2017, Cloud9 Challenger was purchased and re-branded into FlyQuest. Although the team was expected to flop, they were dominant in the early stages of the Spring Split. Although they fell off later on, they still finished 5th with a 9-9 record. In the playoffs they defeated Counter Logic Gaming with a 3-2 reverse sweep. In the semifinals they lost 0-3 to Team SoloMid and later on lost the third place match 2-3 too Phoenix1, placing 4th overall. The Summer Season was much harder for FlyQuest as the competition within the region increased. They finished 7th in the regular season and barely retained their Championship Points. This would let them participate in the 2017 Season North America Regional Finals and although they defeated Team Dignitas 3-0 in the first round, they lost 1-3 to CLG in the second round which ended their season. LemonNation left FlyQuest in November and in December he would join the newly formed OpTic Gaming.

2018 Season

LemonNation left FlyQuest in November and in December joined the newly formed OpTic Gaming. OpTic was predicted to be a bottom tier team, and their spring split performance did little to belie that, as the team never seriously contended for a playoff spot or finished a week above a tie for seventh. The team ended up finishing 5-13, in 9th place. Immediately after the season ended, OpTic announced that LemonNation and top laner zig would be leaving the team. Although he never officially announced his retirement, LemonNation didn't join another team as a player. He eventually joined Radiance, a new organization founded by his Cloud9 teammate Hai, as Head of Events.

Trivia

Achieved rank 1 in solo queue at the end of Season 2 and in Season 3 playing only support.
Only played Janna in solo queue for a large span of time.
His name is derived from his middle name, Lemon.
Favorite support is Blitzcrank, least favorite support is Sona.
Enjoys Magic: The Gathering.
Has a Master's Degree in Software Engineering from University of St. Thomas.
Pioneered AP Janna support.
Looks up to Edward.
Played the first support Nasus in a competitive match.
League of Legends was his first MOBA game.
He created his first account, ShawnOfTheDead, on the 1st of January, 2010.
Lemon's teammates claim he has a bad PR (Public Relations) filter, he has said things that could be considered inappropriate such as his suicide comment on the LCS stream.
His Twitter is @Lemonnnation because he forgot the password of his first account, @Lemonnation.
His sister's middle name is Lime.
He is Jewish.
At one point, he stated that he never uses skins for his champions.^[21] He did, however, use the "Exiled Morgana" skin against yoe Flash Wolves in Round 2 of Group A at IEM World Championship Katowice 2015 on March 13, 2015.
Famously had a notebook of counterpicks that he would take on stage with him which earned him the nickname "死亡笔记" in China which translates to "Death Note", a reference to the anime in which the main character writes down names in his notebook of those whom he chooses to die.^[22]
Contracted coronavirus during the 2019–20 Coronavirus Pandemic, one of the only people in the League of Legends esports community to publically announce he had tested positive. He experienced only mild symptoms and was able to recover quickly at home.

Tournament Results

This table shows up to the 10 most recent results. For complete results, click here.

LemonNation Tournament Results
Date	Pl	Event	Last Result	Team	Roster
2018-08-24	1	Return of the Legends 2018	3 - 2⁠⁠East	⁠⁠West	Dyrus, Alex Ich, Hai, Tabzz, LemonNation
2018-03-18	9	NA LCS 2018 Spring	5 - 13⁠⁠RR	⁠⁠OPT	zig, Dhokla, Akaadian, PowerOfEvil, Arrow, LemonNation, Zaboutine
2018-03-16	9	NA Academy 2018 Spring	6 - 12⁠⁠RR	⁠⁠OPT.A	Dhokla, PieCakeLord, Akaadian, Kadir, Palafox, Andy, LemonNation, Winter
2017-09-10	3	NA Regional Finals 2017	1 : 3⁠⁠CLG	⁠⁠FLY	Balls, Moon, Hai, WildTurtle, LemonNation, Thinkcard
2017-08-06	7	NA LCS 2017 Summer	6 - 12⁠⁠RR	⁠⁠FLY	Balls, Moon, Hai, WildTurtle, LemonNation, Thinkcard, Hermes
2017-04-23	4	NA LCS 2017 Spring Playoffs	2 : 3⁠⁠P1	⁠⁠FLY	Balls, Moon, Hai, Altec, LemonNation, Thinkcard
2017-03-26	5	NA LCS 2017 Spring	9 - 9⁠⁠RR	⁠⁠FLY	Balls, Moon, Hai, Altec, LemonNation, Thinkcard
2016-08-07	Q	NA LCS 2017 Spring Promotion	3 : 0⁠⁠NRG	⁠⁠C9C	Balls, Contractz, Hai, Altec, LemonNation, Thinkcard
2016-07-20	1	NACS 2016 Summer Playoffs	3 : 2⁠⁠TL.A	⁠⁠C9C	Balls, Contractz, Hai, Altec, LemonNation, Thinkcard
2016-07-07	1	NACS 2016 Summer	3-2-0⁠⁠RR	⁠⁠C9C	Balls, Rush, Contractz, Hai, Altec, LemonNation

LemonNation Showmatch Results
Date	Pl	Event	Last Result	Team	Roster
2020-07-10	1	LCS 2020 Summer Classic Showmatch	1 : 0⁠⁠TSM	⁠⁠C9	Balls, Meteos, Hai, Sneaky, LemonNation
2019-11-29	4	Esports Shanghai Masters 2019	0 - 3⁠⁠RR	⁠⁠EAGL	Westrice, TheOddOne, Voyboy, Cop, BunnyFuFuu, LemonNation

Media

2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2020

August 7, Hello, I'm Orb LemonNation. I play only SUPPORT and just got RANK 1 five minutes ago, AMA (2747 elo as of this post, US server) with LemonNation on Reddit
e

March 14, Hello, I'm c9 LemonNation I play only SUPPORT and am currently RANK 1 NA. I'm also going to be at MLG Dallas this weekend, AMA with LemonNation on Reddit
e
March 17, LemonNation talks playing on the Mainstage for the first time with Travis Gafford on YouTube
e
March 20, Cloud 9's Team AMA! with Hai on Reddit
e
May 9, Back for Seconds: Quantic Gaming by Riot Games on YouTube
e
May 11, QTC vs coL Interview - LCS 2013 NA Summer Promo D2 with Riot Games on YouTube
e
May 14, League of Legends: LCS Report [Archived] with RheingoldRiver on ZAM
e
June 14, LemonNation talks about Cloud 9's run so far at the LCS with Travis Gafford on YouTube
e
June 21, A sit down with Cloud 9 Lemonnation [Archived] with Caymus on Dignitas
e
June 29, Sneaky talks Day 1 at MLG and has Special Guests Join with Travis Gafford on YouTube
e
July 1, C9 HyperX LemonNation, AMA with LemonNation on Reddit
e
July 26, LemonNation talks about being 10-0, Champ select during TSM match, & more LCS [LCS SS WK 7] [Lost] with Machinima on YouTube
e
September 20, Cloud 9 house cleaned by Homejoy by Cloud9 on YouTube
e
September 26, HyperX Cloud 9 LCS NA Regional Champions Interview with Cloud9 on YouTube
e
September 30, Cloud 9 HyperX Talks League Of Legends Championship by John Gaudiosi on GameSkinny
e

May 1, All-Stars Bound with , and on Cloud 9
e
May 9, C9's Sneaky and LemonNation detail the OMG game and adjusting to LiNk (video) with , and on onGamers
e
May 13, C9 LemonNation - AMA post All-Stars! with , and on Reddit
e
August 30, League of Legends NA Regionals: Interview with Cloud 9's LemonNation After Defeating Curse 3-0 (video) with , and on Esports Max
e
October 4, LoL 2014 World Championship Interview - LemonNation (C9 Support) (video) with , and on OGN Global
e
December 10, IEM San Jose: Balls and LemonNation after C9 victory (video) with , and on SK Gaming
e

February 8, Doublelift: LemonNation: "CLG has a tendency to get cocky and then lose and then get better again" (video) with , and on onGamers
e
March 15, LemonNation: "We still have issues we are trying to fix" (video) with , and on fragbite
e
March 21, LemonNation Explains Why He Is "Not A Big Fan" Of Urgot Mid (video) with , and on onGamers
e
June 3, C9 LemonNation: "Meteos is now the shotcaller" with , and on TeamLiquid
e
June 17, Lemonnation Talks C9 Shot Calling Issues and Their Poor Start with , and on GameSpot
e
October 1, Cloud9's LemonNation on Veigar and facing ahq with , and on The Score
e
October 1, Lemon and Sneaky Talk to Travis about Korea and Lemon's Plans to Retire this Year with , and on Gamespot
e
October 5, LemonNation: Chinese team drafts 'have been god awful,' but expect that to change in the next round with , and on The Daily Dot
e

February 9, Lemonnation Hopes to Exploit IMT's "Shit on Lane, Win Game" Playstyle This Week with , and on G|League
e
March 20, C9 LemonNation - We have to prove that we're better with , and on Yahoo
e
August 28, An Interview with LemonNation with , and on GAMURS
e

January 23, LemonNation on his decision to return to LCS and why he wants 10 bans on the live server with , and on Yahoo Esports
e
February 12, LemonNation talks player personalities, team dynamics on FLY & C9, and what he misses most about C9 with , and on Blitz Esports
e
March 6, Sneaky interviews Lemon after their match as former Cloud9 teammates reunite on the mic with , and on Yahoo Esports
e
April 17, LemonNation on FlyQuest infrastructure: ‘We’ve been catching up to the other organizations’ with , and on Yahoo! Esports
e
June 12, LemonNation on Riot Games starting the players union: “There’s just no way that the players by themselves would do it. I think most of the players are too lazy and just too focused on other things.” with , and on Andrew Kim for Slingshot Esports
e
July 19, Lemon on FlyQuest: 'I think there's a lot of issues that stack together to make us underperform' with , and on Travis Gafford
e
August 15, FlyQuest Features - Support Morgana ft. Lemonnation by , and on FlyQuest Sports
e
August 17, FlyQuest Features - Maintaining a Perfect Beard ft. Lemonnation by , and on FlyQuest Sports
e

February 12, Lemonnation talks turning down a life and maybe a wife for LCS with Travis Gafford on YouTube
e

January 9, Top 5 Most Influential NA Pro Players of the Decade by Izento on Esports Heaven
e

Post-Match Interviews

2013
2014
2015

Date	Tournament	Match	Link
2013-05-11	NA LCS 2013 Summer Promotion	COL vs QTC	Link
2013-06-15	NA LCS 2013 Summer	VES vs C9	Link
2013-07-04	NA LCS 2013 Summer	C9 vs DIG	Link
2013-07-12	NA LCS 2013 Summer	C9 vs VES	Link
2013-07-19	NA LCS 2013 Summer	C9 vs CRS	Link
2013-07-26	NA LCS 2013 Summer	C9 vs CST	Link
2013-09-01	NA LCS 2013 Summer Playoffs	TSM vs C9	Link

Date	Tournament	Match	Link
2014-02-01	NA LCS 2014 Spring	CST vs C9	Link
2014-02-16	NA LCS 2014 Spring	C9 vs DIG	Link
2014-03-02	NA LCS 2014 Spring	C9 vs TSM	Link
2014-03-08	NA LCS 2014 Spring	C9 vs CRS	Link
2014-04-20	NA LCS 2014 Spring Playoffs	TSM vs C9	Link
2014-05-31	NA LCS 2014 Summer	C9 vs CRS	Link
2014-06-19	NA LCS 2014 Summer	CRS vs C9	Link
2014-08-01	NA LCS 2014 Summer	COL vs C9	Link