On June 10, 2022, the U-Next Pirates announced that they will be renewing the contracts for Kobayashi Go and Mizuhara Akina, but will not be renewing the contracts for Asakura Koushin and Ishibashi Nobuhiro for the M-League 2022-23 Season.
Starting in the 2020-21 Season, a new rule was set in place stating that a team that does not make the finals two years in a row with the same players is forced to change their roster. As the Pirates failed to make the finals in the 2020-21 and the 2021-22 Seasons (placing 7th and 6th, respectively), they were forced to remove at least one player this off-season.
In M-League’s inaugural season, both Asakura and Ishibashi were drafted by the U-Next Pirates as the team’s original crew, with Asakura being the 2nd round pick and Ishibashi being the team’s 3rd round pick after they failed to get Suzuki Taro due to a random draw with two other teams.
In the 2019-20 Season, both Asakura and Ishibashi were major contributors to the Pirates’ success. For Asakura, he won a Daisangen in Game 5 to give the team a well-needed points boost. For Ishibashi, he was the top performer in the semifinals and won Game 11 in the finals to help the team win their first championship.
However, both of them have had their struggles in M-League. Asakura had triple-digit negatives in the 2019-20 and the 2020-21 season, as well dead hands from a false tsumo and a 237s chii. Ishibashi struggled a lot in the regular season, failing to finish any of his four seasons in positive territory.
In Asakura’s note, he apologized for not being able to do more for the team and thanked everyone for the past four years. He also said that he will do his best as both a Youtuber and as a new father.
In a tweet and his note, Ishibashi said he was disappointed by the result and also thanked the everyone for their support and all the wonderful experiences over the past four years.
Kobayashi thanked both of them for the lessons that they taught and that he will be sad that they will no longer be playing together. Mizuhara said that she will run as best as she can with the baton that was passed to her.
With the departure of Asakura and Ishibashi, the U-Next Pirates will have two drafts picks in the M-League 2022 Draft.
The M-League Watch team would like to wish Asakura and Ishibashi success in life and all of their future mahjong activities.
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