Raysfire

Ian (born: ), better known online as raysfire (shortened to 'rays'), is an American YouTuber, Twitch streamer, speedrunner, and programmer who mainly plays Super Mario Maker 2, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and Mario Party Superstars. He has two good friends that he used to (and occasionally still does) make videos with: PangaeaPanga and RedFalcon. The trio was joined in their Super Mario Maker 2 multiplayer versus videos by DGR, LilKirbs, and Desbug.
==Channel History==
===The Early Era: 2011-2018===
Ian joined YouTube on the raysfire account on October 11, 2011, which he used to watch YouTube as a teenager. In 2013, he began posting random clips from his Twitch streams, mainly consisting of him playing Team Fortress 2. Later that year, he began posting random clips filmed from his camera when at the ESEA (E-Sports Entertainment Association League). He also posted random IRL videos during that time period, as well as Team Fortress 2 HUD modding tutorials.
In October of 2014, Ian phased out of all previous genres of videos (with the exception of the occasional random IRL video) and began posting speedrun VODs from his Twitch channel (mainly consisting of Super Mario Sunshine Any%), along with occasional vlog updates. Because of his entrance to the speedrun community, he attended Summer Games Done Quick (SGDQ) in 2015.Vlog Update: SGDQ plans and Youtube channel updates! - YouTube
In August of 2015, Ian began posting stream clips of him losing runs of Super Mario Sunshine under the branding "How to Lose a Run." He began a playthrough of Minecraft Story Mode during this time period. He also posted a few clips from his streams featuring Super Mario Maker's 100 Mario Challenge shortly after the game came out. He began a podcast called Next Level Podcast later in the year, featuring advice on growing your online presence.
In 2016, Ian began a playthrough of the original Paper Mario, as well as posting random clips of said game. He said in a vlog that he would be increasing his video editing efforts going forward.Vlog Update - Future Plans - YouTube 
In 2017, Ian graduated from UT Austin and announced that he would be jumping into Twitch streaming and content creation as a full-time career. His main source of content shifted to clip compilations, combining clips provided by viewers of his Twitch streams, with the occasional long-form video of a speedrun being posted. He began a new series where he used a mod replacing Player 1 with a CPU in various Mario Party games, so you can watch the CPUs play parties without a human player. He also played through Super Mario Odyssey when it released alongside the Nintendo Switch.super mario odyssey complete playthrough - YouTube Toward the back half of the year, Fortnite became the main source of Ian's long-form content and clip compilations.
Fortnite content remained as Ian's main source of content in 2018.
===The Modern Era: 2019-Present===
In 2019, the fateful announcement of Super Mario Maker 2 would change Ian's channel forever, being his first 2D Mario game. After initially playing through Story Mode, Ian moved to playing Multiplayer Versus as his main source of content, with his editor, Lily, helping out with a lot of the editing. He began also playing Endless Expert as he reached Multiplayer Versus' higher ranks. In November 2019, after he had reached S+ on his main Super Mario Maker 2 account, he moved to an alt account to begin the road to S+ again.
In early 2020, Ian began playing Super Mario Maker 2 Versus in friend lobbies with fellow YouTubers and friends PangaeaPanga and RedFalcon while in a Discord voice chat, with an occasional guest to take the fourth spot, which became a large source of content for all three as the COVID-19 pandemic hit the US. Despite this, his other series in the game (Road from D to S+ and Endless Expert) remained as sources of content during 2020. He also played Ninji Speedrun levels as they came out and stole World Records from PangaeaPanga as a sort of friendly rivalry, as well as other, miscellaneous videos around the game that didn't filter into other categories. When his birthday came around, Ian opened a P.O. box that allowed his viewers to send him anything they wanted to. He streamed himself opening them, and an edit of the stream was released later. He played through Super Mario 3D All-Stars when it came out. Toward the end of the year, he created a second channel named "raysfire plus" that contained most stream edits of him playing Super Mario Maker 2 Multiplayer Versus, other games, and content that simply didn't belong on the main channel.
In 2021, in addition to continuing his Multiplayer Versus content and other series, Ian played through Mario Party Superstars and Super Mario 3D World's re-release on the Nintendo Switch with Desbug, PangaeaPanga, and RedFalcon, as well as the latter's new side-game Bowser's Fury by himself. He opened a third channel, daily dose of raysfire, which mainly contains clips under a minute that are meant to be amusing. At the end of the year, he opened up his fourth and latest channel, named raysfire VODs. This channel, as the name implies, contains long-form archives of his Twitch streams.
In 2022, Ian continued playing Multiplayer Versus until May on the raysfire plus channel, after which he shifted back to the main channel to do random challenges and creative videos mainly within Super Mario Maker 2, as well as playing through New Super Mario Bros. U.
Since 2023, Ian's content has consisted of edits of his most creative streams, told in a traditional, story fashion on his main channel, and full-length stream archives on his VOD channel. raysfire plus has been inactive since 2022, and daily dose of raysfire (his clips channel) has been inactive since September of 2023. He explained in a stream that he needed a new staff member to run the clips channel, and that it is merely being restructured: The clips channel will contain longer-form clips, such as storytelling or reactions to videos, and the short clips to be mainly posted as YouTube shorts on the main channel, with them occasionally being posted on the clips channel to provide variety.The (Updated) YouTube Business Plan - YouTube
A new staff member has been hired to run the VODs channel, and the income from there will go toward rebooting the clips channel, according to Ian.
== Games Featured ==
* Fortnite
* Gym Hero
* Infinite Craft
* Mario Party 9
* Mario Party Superstars
* Mario Kart Wii
* Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
* Minecraft
* New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe
* New Super Mario Bros. Wii
* Nintendo Switch Sports
* Paper Mario
* Team Fortress 2
* Super Mario Bros. Wonder
* Super Mario Maker
* Super Mario Maker 2
* Super Mario Odyssey
* Wii Fit Plus
* Wii Music
* Wii Play
* Wii Sports
* Wii Sports Resort
==Catchphrases==
*“Blue pipe gang!” [formerly "Blue pipe gaming!"] -when Ian goes into a blue Warp Pipe in a four-lane multiplayer level.
*"Gaming!" -when Ian wins a Multiplayer Versus match.
*“We/You've hecked it!” -when Ian or another player messes something up.
*"Flubbed it!" -also used when someone messes something up.
*“For the fans!” -when collectibles show up in a course, and Ian chooses to collect them (e.g. Big Coins, 1-up Mushrooms).
*"Yoinked it!" -when Ian steals a win or power-up from another player who would have otherwise gotten it.
*“I’m mad on the Internet!” -when Ian succumbs to something rage-inducing on camera.
*“Thumbnail shot!” -when a 4-lane Multiplayer Versus level is being played and the characters enter their respectively colored pipes (Mario to red, Luigi to green, etc.).
*“This is scuffed!” -used to describe something as bad or messed up (i.e. level design).
*"This is a fake level!" -when the player can fly over the entire level (in a Clown Car or Lakitu Cloud). The level usually also has extreme enemy spam (at least) on the flag screen.
*"Feller/feather stocks!" -the monetary value of the Propeller Mushroom and Cape Feather power-ups
*"I'm I-frame Johnson/Andy!" -when Ian gets invincibility frames and goes over/through an enemy.
*"Big boot guy!" -when Ian enters a Goomba Shoe.
*"This seems like a power-up level." -when Ian is last in a Multiplayer Versus level.
*"What are you talking about?" -when something happens that Ian thinks shouldn't have.
*"Orb acquired!" -when Ian gets the top (or "orb") of the flagpole.
==Quotes==
*"It feels like you can just make [a video clip] black-and-white and play dramatic music [behind the video] and it will become a quote."
*"Foxes are important animals."
== Trivia== 
*Ian currently lives in Austin, Texas.
*He has one sister.Fearing For My Life in Mario Maker Multiplayer Versus - YouTube She has two sons.bald man adventures - a short film - YouTube
*He attended boy scouts as a child.THE RETURN OF THE ORB - YouTube
*The only gaming system Ian had growing up was the Nintendo 64.
* The Grindel is a trademark character often associated with the channel, originating from a stream in 2021 where a chatter mentioned it, and upon finding it on the Mario Wiki, Ian thought it looked cool.The Mario enemy Nintendo doesn't want you to know about... - YouTube
*Humorously, his community thinks he's bald, leading to another trademark attribute of his channel. The first occurrence of this was during a Multiplayer Versus stream in early 2021.Do not touch the ORB. - YouTube
*During the period of time when Ian played Multiplayer Versus as his main source of content, his chat would spam "TOXIC" (with the letters spaced apart and the BetterTTV D: emote replacing the letter O) if he won a match, regardless of whether or not he waited at the flagpole, becoming a part of the personalities of Ian's longtime community members that is still sometimes referenced. The earliest known versions of this are from summer 2020.This Multiplayer Versus Match BROKE Super Mario Maker 2... - YouTube
*In being eager to play the latest 2D Mario game as soon as possible, Ian began streaming Super Mario Bros. Wonder as soon as it came out in Australia on October 20, 2023 in said country, the earliest release area of the game in the world.
==Subscriber Milestones==
Category:Users who joined in 2011
Category:Gaming YouTubers
Category:American YouTubers
==Sources==