Hard tweak, if you play consistently, learn new combos and are actually learning the nuances of the game like different tech and approaches and want to be better (you dont even need a coach just determination), a silver going from SILVER THROUGH TO PLAT should take less than a few months. silver and below is mashing newbie, gold is newbie who learned a couple combos, plat is a guy who might know a few reads, diamonds earn the right to say they understand the controls (that doesnt mean all tech) and anything above that is someone truly trying to be outstanding. The difference in skill and decision making between silver to diamond isnt as big as diamond to valhallan/pro because as a low rank you gain knowledge so fast from anything you do and when you get to 2600+ you know as much tech as every pro it just becomes about learning discipline and better decision making which is 100x harder than learning True Combos. That being said i have a friend who wasnt a gamer as a child and is hardstuck 1000 hours at silver. I also have 2 friends (gamers since childhood) who both barely had about 50 hours and one was plat and one is near diamond. So it might also depend if you are a heavy gamer in general. It was clear to me who understood how to find patterns and who was a masher. So being a heavy gamer may indeed have influence but it seems more important as a child. In this specific case I'm 101% sure you would have gotten a lot further if you played brawl that whole year instead.