Smasher:Light (Connecticut)

Light is a professional Super Smash Bros. Ultimate main from Connecticut, considered the best Fox player in the world and one of the best players in the United States. He is currently ranked 1st on both the Connecticut Ultimate Power Rankings and New England Ultimate Power Rankings as well as 6th on the LumiRank Mid-Year 2023.

In, Light was also a player, and is also considered one of the best Fox players in the world along with. He has taken sets from Tweek,, , , , , , and Larry Lurr. Light is currently ranked 1st on the Connecticut Smash 4 Power Rankings, 2nd on the NER 2017-2018, and 43rd on the Panda Global Rankings 100.

Light is also considered one of the best, if not the best doubles player in the world. He usually teams with and the pair is considered one of the best Ultimate doubles team in the world, having taken 1st place at majors such as, , , , and.

On February 8th, 2018, Light was signed by Most Valuable Gaming. Months later, on September 26th, 2018, MVG released Light from his contract for unknown reasons. On February 21st, 2019, Light was signed by Rogue. Light left Rogue on March 31st, 2020. He was signed by on September 15th, 2021, an eSports team created by.

Playstyle
Light is charactered by his aggressive, quick, and high-pressure playstyle, and has been the forerunner of Fox's metagame since the start of the game. Fox's incredible speed and overwhelming neutral game is complimented by Light's impressive reaction time. Many of Light's kills can be attributed to quick tech chase's or reactions to ledge getups, where Light has pioneered the dash attack into back air kill confirm. While initially having difficulty killing opponents, Light has developed a playstyle where he saves many of Fox's kill moves such as up smash or back air, deliberately not staling the move so they can reliably kill when he needs them to. His knowledge of specific kill percentages has also served him well, using Fox's laser to get opponents into the precise percentage where the neutral air up smash will finish his opponents.

Light in particular is known for his incredible ledge-trapping game. While early in the game Light had been known for two-framing his opponents with down smash, he has now developed a playstyle that involves cornering his opponents and overwhelming them with a flurry of back airs, reading or reacting to his opponents options to take the stock. Unlike other Fox players, if Light knows he can edgeguard bad recoveries, he would run off Nair or shine spike them for early gimps. Light is also known to mix up Fox's recovery well, despite Fox having an easily exploitable linear recovery. For example, he uses Fox's reflector to stall his momentum in the air and uses Fire Fox in unique angles so he can potentially get trades with his opponent trying to edgeguard him.

Regional threat
Light began actively playing in 2016, attending events in the New England area. His initial few results were largely unremarkable, with a couple of decent placements at regional-level events, and he notably complemented his with other secondaries such as. However, throughout the year he began making waves in his home state, first by appearing on the Connecticut Power Rankings for the spring rankings as 11th, and reaching the top of the rankings by the end of the year. This climb to the top of his home state coincided with noticeable improvements in his results as he began making frequent top 8 appearances at New England regionals while taking notable New England names along the way. His best performance of the year was at, where after falling to in top 16, he made a strong loser's run defeating , , Raffi-X, and , all of whom were some of New England's best players at that time. His run ended with swiftly 3-0ing him in grand finals. Results like GUMS X improved his standings in the New England area: Light first appearing on the New England Power Rankings as 7th midway through the year, and ended the year at 3rd, ranking just under Marss and Pugwest, New England's two PGR reps at the time.

His climb in the New England scene continued the following year. Light began seeing more and more top 3 finishes at regionals, claiming a couple of wins over PGR-ranked players Pugwest and. However, Light was often snubbed out of a victory by Marss, who by then had became his bracket demon. In addition, despite becoming a strong New England threat, Light failed to see much success on a national-level, having placed 65th at the previous year's Shine and 97th at. Despite rising all the way to 2nd in New England by the spring of 2017, Light failed to make the PGR v3 and was ranked 79th on the ranking's X-Factor list.

Climb to the top 50
This small stagnation didn't last, and Light would finally have his breakout tournament at. After losing to, Light went on to defeat , , and before losing to  for 9th. Not only was he one set away from making top 8 at a major, but this was his first major where he garnered PGR wins that were outside of his region. This strong performance was followed by yet another strong showing at, where he claimed wins over and  to finish 17th. These two strong performances, coupled with multiple PGR wins and with only 2 losses to players that weren't in the top 50, was enough for Light to place in the top 50 for the first time in his career, and he was ranked 47th on the PGR v4.

But this wasn't the end of Light's year, as the off-season became the highlight. He was voted into the, the game's equivalent to Melee's series, and although he was seeded 9th, Light managed to pull off multiple upsets over top players. Light went 2-1 in his round robin by defeating and  and losing to ; his head to head broke the tiebreaker between him and Tweek, leaving him first in his round robin. Light claimed an additional win over before falling to  and  to place 5th, his first top 8 at a major event. He followed this run with two victories at large regionals in and around his area. The first,, saw him defeat and, after falling to Marss yet again, saw him double-eliminating Marss from the tournament in the runback, his first time double-eliminating Marss to win a regional. The second tournament was, a New York event that saw some of Tristate's best players in attendance. This tournament was much easier for Light compared to Overclocked, as he defeated everyone, including New Jersey's second-best player twice, while only dropping 3 games the entire event. This sudden explosion of results from Light gave him the throne on the year-end New England Power Rankings and foreshadowed what was to come.

Smash 4's best Fox?
Light left 2017 with his best year yet, and with a really strong off-season, Light was hoping for more in 2018. His start of the season, however, was rather lukewarm. Light's first major,, ended with a decent 17th, claiming no PGR wins along the way and falling to and , while his next two regionals, while placing in the top 3, saw Light develop a new bracket demon in the form of , who defeated Light at both regionals.

This small slump ended at the super regional, where Light defeated both Dabuz and to advance to grand finals. Although Nairo double-eliminated him, this performance marked the spark that reignited Light's performances. For the rest of the season, Light saw strong run after strong run, and aside from disappointing 17th at, Light made every tournament run worth it by placing top 16 at everything. This included, where Light defeated in the ditto to place 9th; , where Light finished 4th after defeating  and , his first top 8 at an open major; and , which saw his first ever PGR tournament win after denying  a successful reset. His strong performances despite a relatively weak start propelled Light into the top 20 by the end of the season, placing 13th on the PGR v5 and outranking Larry Lurr by 3 places.

His performance in the fifth season, along with a decline in results for Larry Lurr, brought about questions as to whether Light could potentially be the best player in the world at that moment. Indeed, there were arguments in favor of both. From a glance it looked like Larry Lurr had a rather similar season to Light, with both seeing weak lows while having high peaks. However, while Larry Lurr had a better head to head against the top 50 (21-20) compared to Light (14-19), Light edged Larry Lurr out in their head to head against the top 10 (with Light being at 5-7 and Larry Lurr being at 3-6). If Light was to prove that he was better, he'd have to end the year on a stronger note.

Unfortunately, it may seem like this question will remain up for debate, as with the announcement of Ultimate's release at the end of the year, the PGR decided not to rank the final season, but instead release an all-time ranking. Light only appeared in four PGR tournaments during this period. However, he made them count by placing in the top 4 at almost all of them, finishing 4th at both and, as well as 2nd at the regional. Light's performance in the final few months was marred with a disappointing 97th finish at after losing to  and, however aside from this misstep, Light ended his year - and Smash 4 career - on a high note. Due to his explosive performances throughout 2018, as well as strong results in the latter half of 2017, panelists on the PGR 100 ranked Light as the 43rd best player of all time, the second-highest Fox player on the list.

Ultimate and rise to the top 10
By the end of Smash 4, Light had established himself as one of the best Fox players in the world, and he hoped to keep that title in Ultimate. Not only was he able to establish that within the first few months, but he was also arguably one of the best players in the world during that time, placing 3rd place at with an  win, having a strong start to the first PGRU season by placing top 8 at, , and , as well as qualifying for  by winning. His best run of the season, however, was at, where he defeated , MkLeo, , and en route to a 3rd place finish.

Unfortunately, this hot streak was cut short by a series of underperformances at the following few majors in the season. He missed top 8 at a major for the first time at, where he lost to 2-1 and was reverse 3-0'd by  to finish in 17th place. He would also finish outside of top 8 at, , and. Despite having a strong start of the season, his weaker performances in the second half of the season hurt his overall standing, and he was ranked 10th on the first PGRU season.

His second PGRU season was as inconsistent as the first. Light's peaks were very high; he finished 7th place at and, the season's two biggest tournaments, as well as top 6 placements at most other majors he had attended, including  and. His best run of the season came at, where he defeated twice and  en route to a 2nd place finish, marking the his highest major placement yet.

However, with these highs came some lows. His first disappointment was at, where he lost to and  to place 17th. His second disappointment was also his worst performance to date: at, he fell to and  to ultimately place 25th. His final disappointment was at, where he lost to and  to place 13th. At all three tournaments, he saw at least one loss to players who were ultimately not ranked in the top 50 that season or failed to attain a win against a player of similar caliber. These mediocre results once again affected his overall standing by the end of the season: despite seeing some of his strongest results yet, he was ultimately ranked 10th yet again for that season.

Coming from a defining 2019, Light started the new year and the third PGRU season with high hopes, as expectations for how he would perform were high. Unfortunately, it seemed like nothing was going to change, as he once again saw a rather mixed season for a top 10 player. He started the season off with two lukewarm performances at and. In the former, despite seeing a decent run, he failed to place top 8, instead falling to and  for 9th. In the latter, he saw his worst placement that season after being upset by and ; this run, however, was compensated with a win over, marking the first time he had defeated his bracket demon after Maister had 3-0'd him in their last two encounters. His performance at was on a similar caliber: despite defeating, he fell to  and rising star  to once again place 9th.

His mediocre major runs, however, were balanced out by a solid run at, the second-largest tournament of the season. Despite being upset by in his first round of Winners Top 64, he managed to knock out, , and  in his Loser's run, ultimately placing 7th after falling to. Furthermore, he was still able to claim the runner-up position in his region with his 2nd place finish at and winning a set against Marss, his only victory over New England's best player that season. These results showed that, although his status of a being top 10 player was questionable at the time, Light nonetheless proved that he could still keep up with the cream of the crop. Unfortunately, he was unable to prove his top 10 status as the COVID-19 pandemic shut down offline competitive play for over a year. Due to Fox being a weaker character online and Light's distaste for Ultimate's online mode, Light took a break from the game, only entering a couple of online tournaments in 2021 in preparation for and to participate in the, where he placed 33rd.

One of America's best
Despite a lack of results during the online metagame, people were adamant that Light would reach his peak form again when offline returned. However when offline did return, it was clear that a lack of practice had hurt him. At the 16-person invitational, Light placed 7th despite being seeded 3rd, losing to two other players who played Star Fox characters: rising star and familiar foe. He then saw his worst performance post-pandemic at at the qualifier, where despite coming in as the first seed, he lost to  and  to finish at 17th, a far cry from the performances he had pre-pandemic. Despite these setbacks, players still had confidence that Light could return to the spotlight; a viral Tweet made by smith, effectively summarized Light's position in the metagame at that moment: many players believed that he was still good, but his mentality was holding him back. Light gave some of that hope back at, where despite losing two close game 5 sets to and , both of whom played characters considered some of Fox's worst matchups, he ended up placing 5th, his first top 8 at a major since. He then pulled the best run of his career up to that point: although he was on the Loser's side because of his loss against Jakal, Light embarked one one of the most grueling top 8 runs in the game's history, winning game 5 sets against, , , and to make it to Grand Finals. There, he defeated 3-0 in the first set of Grands and win yet another game 5 set to take his first major win. His victory at Super Smash Con: Fall Fest prove that despite losing faith in his main and having to play catchup, he was able to adapt to a new metagame and defeat rising stars and familiar foes along the way. Despite a decent run at and not participating in the, Light solidified himself as a top 10 player in the United States with his S-tier placement - or top 7 - on the PGRUContenders North America, and as a top 20 player in the world, being ranked 15th on the OrionRank Ultimate: Eclipse.

The end of 2021 began an upward trend for Light as he began seeing consistency that he had never seen before, and 2022 marked Light's best year yet. Following an underwhelming 13th-place finish at losing to  and, he would not place outside the top 8 until  8 months later; in fact, during this period he only placed outside the top 3 at 2 events --  and. Due to these absurdly consistent placements as well as 's decline, many players called Light the best player in the United States; this was reflected in the rankings for the first half of the year, where he was ranked 4th on the PGRU v3 and 3rd on the OrionRank Mid-Year 2022, the highest-ranking player from the United States on both rankings. Some players even went as far as to call Light a contender for the best player in the world, especially following 's inactivity and 's decline in mid-2022.

However, a few factors ultimately kept him out of the number one spot. For one, despite his absurd consistency Light was only able to win one major/supermajor event --. Conversely, both Sparg0 and MkLeo saw multiple major and supermajor wins, some of which were the most important events of the year. In addition, the summer saw the debut of on the national scene, and Fox was known to struggle against acola's main. This was showcased in their sets: Light ultimately went 3-1 against acola, while acola notably kept Light from winning. Due to those two factors, Light was ultimately ranked 4th on both the UltRank 2022 and the OrionRank 2022, behind the three players; although not what he wanted, this was still Light's best placement to date.

The beginning of 2023 continued Light's strong results from the previous year, with him most notably winning the major. However, his results began to noticeably falter after the major win: out of the nine major and supermajor events Light attended after LVL UP EXPO that year, Light only placed top 8 at three of them --, , and. Conversely, he also saw some of the worst performances since 2019, which includes placing 25th at losing to  and, tying  as his worst placement at an Ultimate major. In addition, he was no longer considered the uncontested best player in the United States as he began trading more sets with Tweek, who began seeing a resurgence in late-2022, and Zomba -- who saw an explosion of top-level results in mid-2023. Not helping his situation was issues in his personal life, which took his attention out of competition.

Luckily, he also still had a lot going for him that helped keep his season afloat. For one, almost every player in the top 10 that year saw some notable underperformances, and compared to some of them, Light still came out of the year rather easily. In addition, Light still had a major win under his belt for the season, which helped him greatly as top level play became increasingly dominant by four players as the year went on. Finally, Light ended the year with a positive record against two of the four dominant players: Sparg0 and. As such despite the noticeable dips, his highs still allowed him to be ranked in the top 10: he was ranked 6th on the LumiRank Mid-Year 2023

Trivia

 * Light has the iconic habit to roll up his sleeves during sets, especially when he is in difficult situations and very close sets.
 * Light is a fan of Toradora! and particularly Taiga Aisaka, the female protagonist of the show. Until recently, he often used "Palm Tiger" as his in-game tag, which is a derivation of Taiga's surname in the series ("Palmtop Tiger").
 * Light has been the subject of a few memes and running gags in the Smash community:
 * During a part of Smash 4 and Ultimate's competitive lifespan, Light's ability to clutch off sets and being victorious in very unfavorable situations has led the community saying Light has a plot armor and is therefore the protagonist of the competitive scene.
 * Many players have called Light a "rap god" because his name, Paris Ramirez, fit perfectly into a rap beat.
 * A quote of Light stating that Wi-Fi is a sham spawned several video edits, particularly those with Fox's victory screen.
 * Light is known for frequently taunting whenever he takes a stock.


 * (Winners Quarters) - Marss (ZSS) vs Light (Fox)
 * GUMS X Singles (Loser's Top 8) - Pugwest (Marth) vs 21S Light (Marth/Fox)
 * The True King - Winners WaDi vs Light
 * The True King - L.Semis Circa 6WX vs Light