M-League 2022-23: Mid-Season Review

We’re just past the halfway point of the season and the fight for the top is getting hot! Today, we’ll look at the progress of each team and what they need to do going forward to succeed.

1st: Shibuya Abemas (347.6pts)

Record: 13-16-12-17, 347.6pts

In the 2021-22 season, the Shibuya Abemas finished the finals in 3rd place for the fourth time in a row. With their general regular season success and a good team balance, they decided to keep all four of their members.

The Shibuya Abemas got off to a very quick and strong start. The team was getting 1sts in around half of their games in the month of October. Each team member had at least one 1st before the whole U-Next Pirates team even had one. Combined with their ability to keep October free of 4ths meant that they were able to get over +400.0pts by the end of the month, getting over +500.0pts on November 1st. Matsumoto was 1st in the individual standings at the end of the month and their lowest ranked player was 10th, higher than the best player of three other teams.

November wasn’t as good as their outstanding October, but it was still a positive result. The team as a whole netted more 1sts than 4ths, more 2nds than 3rds. Even though Ooi and Matsumoto lost their 4th-free status, Shiratori and HInata shined and went up higher in the standings (with Hinata being propelled by her dora-fuelled sanbaiman).

In December, the team started to slip. Shiratori got his first 4ths of the season, Matsumoto registered more 4ths as well. As much as Ooi tried to raise the team’s score with some 1sts, the team ended up losing over 100.0pts on the month.

Next Steps

The Shibuya Abemas have always been a balanced team. All four players are from different organizations, all the players usually play the same number of games. When they keep that balance, they get good results. When that balance gets out of whack, they tend to fall.

In December, the month where they had their worst results, Matsumoto and Ooi played 5 games while Hinata only played 1 game. Every year in the finals, Ooi is sent out much more than the others and the team always ends up 3rd. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Keep the team’s balance and the power of the whole team will shine.

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2nd: EX Furinkazan (232.3pts)

Record: 16-10-9-13, 232.3pts

In the 2021-22 season, the EX Furinkazan fell just short in the semifinals and missed the finals, finishing the season in 5th. With Katsumata and Matsugase having strong performances and Rumi and Aki being inseparable, the team kept their roster as it is.

October was quite even, but heavy on the extremes. A third of their games were 1sts, but just over a third of them were 4ths. Katsumata and Aki were even, Matsugase was strong in getting 1sts (3rd overall individually at the end of the month) and Rumi struggled through the month and got 4ths (31st overall individually at the end of the month). At the end of the month, the team was around where they started at +14.7.

In November, the EX Furinkazan went on a strong upward trend. Katsumata, the team’s 2020-21 Finals MVP, had a string for three 1sts during the month to move him from 16th to 1st in the individual rankings, making him the strongest player in the league in November. By the end of the month, the team had gained over 200.0pts, was sitting 2nd in the overall standings and had the most 1sts in the league.

December was another stagnant month, but progress was made for some individual players. For Rumi, she was able to get two 1sts in a row, including a 72,300 for top 5 in the league. Though the team maintained the title of most 1sts in the league at 16, the team lost -14.9pts during the month.

Next Steps

As in the past two seasons, the EX Furinkazan have had a very strong first half of the regular season. However, they tend to fade in the second half. Because they failed to make the finals last season, this is a crucial time for the team. Like the team during the 2020-21 season with the risk of being fired and the team’s last ditch effort in the 2021-22 finals, maybe the risk of being fired this season will do it again for the team.

Of course, that only works if there is the risk. On their current route, the team is looking to comfortably make the post-season. If Katsumata and Matsugase can keep fighting strong, the team will rise. If Rumi can lower her deal-in rate (the highest in the league), they will rise even higher.

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3rd: Konami Mahjong Fight Club (187.8pts)

Record: 12-13-13-10, 187.8pts

In the 2021-22 season, the Konami Mahjong Fight Club reached the finals for the first time since the 2018-19 season. This run to the finals was made possible in large part by Date Arisa and Takizawa Kazunori, the team’s newest members. Though the team’s eventual 4th place finish wasn’t what the team was hoping for, the team’s performance was good enough to keep all four of them.

The Konami season started out with a bang, with the highest hanchan score record holder Date getting a suuankou on the very first day of the season. With some more positive results, the team was the top performer in the first week of M-League 2022-23. Along with Hisato getting three 1sts during the month, the team ended the month in a positive 2nd place position, trailing only the Shibuya Abemas.

November had it problems for the team. Takizawa, the team’s top player last season, continued to struggle. By the end of the month, he was going 8 games without a 1st. With the team only getting two 1sts in the month, they dropped down to 3rd place overall.

December featured the rise of Takamiya Mari. Through the past four years, Takamiya has struggled in the regular season. However, she turned it around this month. With three 1sts in a month and extending her 4th avoidance streak to 7 games, she moved up over 10 places to 4th overall in the standings, making her the top player in the league in December and the team’s highest scorer of the season.

Next Steps

We have seen from Takamiya that any player can turn it around. We know that this streak for Takizawa is out of the ordinary. If Takizawa can play a few more games and find his groove, the team can fight for top spot.

Other than that, they are already doing very well, having the lowest deal-in rate and highest average hand score. When players are on a hot streak, let them continue their momentum. All of them have spent some time at the top of the standings over the past few seasons. If everything aligns, they will be able to exceed everyone’s expectations.

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4th: U-Next Pirates (105.2pts)

Record: 12-14-12-10, 105.2pts

After failing to make it to the finals in the 2020-21 season and the 2021-22 season, the U-Next Pirates were the first team that was forced to drop at least one player. The team chose to drop two players, Asakura Koushin and Ishibashi Nobuhiro. In the M-League 2022 draft, they chose Saikoui Suzuki Yu and NPM A1 leaguer Nakabayashi Kei to take their place.

The first month of the season was a bit rough for the Pirates. In all of October, Kobayashi wasn’t able to get a first and both of our newcomers couldn’t get a 1st until their fourth game. Within the team, Yu and Mizuhara were barely positive, while Nakabayashi and Kei were in the negatives.

As November came along, things started to split in two directions. On one hand, Mizuhara Akina, last season’s league MVP, trended upwards with her 73,800 1st place and a 41,200 2nd place, putting her 2nd overall in the individual standings. On the other hand, the men of the team started to drop, with the best of the lot being 23rd in the individual standings. With a net negative result, the team was down to 7th by the end of the month.

In December, the U-Next Pirates had a big month. In their 14 games in the month, they had five 1sts and only one 4th. Kobayashi got two 1sts in a row to put him close to the positives. Mizuhara increased her individual score, being at the top for a short time. Nakabayashi and Yu made gains during the month. The team was the best performer in weeks 10 and 11, making them the best team of December.

Next Steps

With their performance in December, we already see the positive result of their playstyle change. They are calling even more than their usual aggressive style, they are getting tenpai more often and holding that tenpai when it goes to a draw. If they can continue this trend, they will be able to climb even higher.

With all four players doing well and improving, there’s really no need to favour sending one player over another. However, if they end up in a pinch, Mizuhara is always a good choice. If she is still in the running for the MVP award at the end of the season, then she should go out and defend that title.

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5th: Team Raiden (-10.4pts)

Record: 12-12-11-13, -10.4pts

Team Raiden was absolutely clobbered in the 2021-22 season, finishing the season -1256.1pts, the worst result for a team in M-League history. Even though the team failed to make the finals for a fourth season in a row, the team decided that they wanted to tackle the fifth season with the same members, one more attempt at overcoming adversity as Team Raiden.

The team had some small troubles at the start of the season, but nothing too big. Despite three weeks of negative results, they were still within 100.0pts of the positives by the end of October.

After the difficult season last season, Honda has really come out of his shell this season. More than half of his games this season had him finish 1st, 8/15. He currently sits in 1st place in the individual standings with +317.1.

November was down on the month, but there was one moment that capture everyon’e’s attention: Kurosawa’s South 4. For 83 minutes, Kurosawa held a dealership, got up to 10 honba and broke many records, including the highest score for a single hanchan at 112,700.

December was a positive month for the team. Honda continued to win games and Setokuma won the Mahjong Saikyousen. To end off the month, we were treated to something that was a long time coming. After over a year, Hagiwara had finally gotten his first 1st, the perfect Christmas gift.

Next Steps

With Honda’s success this season, the clear choice is to send him out more often. However, there is a such thing as over-reliance. If they overwork Honda, he will begin to fade.

With the team on the cusp of forced firing, let the players prove their worth. Despite being team captain, Hagiwara has yet to finish a season in the positives. When Honda begins to fade, send Hagiwara to prove himself. If Hagiwara struggles, send Honda to recover those points. If both seem worn out, Setokuma and Kurosawa will surely do a good job keeping the team alive.

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6th: Kadokawa Sakura Knights (-157.9pts)

Record: 13-8-10-17, -157.9pts

After winning the championship in the 2021-22 season, the Kadokawa Sakura Knights dropped Sawazaki Makoto so he could focus on his health. During the 2022 M-League Draft, the team drafted Shibukawa Nanba, the current NPM title holder and popular YouTuber.

The Sakura Knights continued their championship momentum at the start of the season. Through October, they were sitting in the top 3, hovering around +100.0pts. They had gains in three of the four weeks of the month.

For newcomer Shibukawa, he was shown no mercy for his first season. Going into November 7th, Shibukawa had played 6 games and was without a 1st place. In the first game of November 7th, Kurosawa’s record-setting performance gave Shibukawa the lowest score in M-League history of -47,600. But, even after this demoralizing performance, he still had the strength to play a second game. With his strong wins, he was able to make the immediate comeback and was able to get his first 1st place.

The rest of November, however, was not so great for the team. The team went from +118.5pts in 3rd place at the start of the month to -101.3pts in 5th place at the end of the month. They went from having 3 players positive to just 1. Hori, who had been 5th overall at the end of October, dropped all the way down to 25th after four 4ths in November .

Things continued to trend downards for the team in December. Though there were some positive moments, like Hori breaking his losing streak and getting two 1sts in a row, the team ended in the negatives with all four players ending the year in the red.

Next Steps

As with many championship teams, they are going through what is considered as the champion’s curse: The team that wins the championship ends up failing to make the finals the next year. As of right now, the team sits just above the border of advancing.

Throughout the season, the Kadokawa Sakura Knights have had the highest deal-in rate in the league. However, based on their performance in October, a high deal-in rate shouldn’t be too problematic if their win rate is high. Over the past two months, their deal-in rate has decreased, but also their win rate and call rate. The team has gotten less aggressive and is bleeding points as a result. If they want to gain points, they have to learn to win again, even if it means losing a few hands.

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7th: Sega Sammy Phoenix (-298.1pts)

Record: 10-9-17-12, -298.1pts

In the 2021-22 season, the team made a strong comeback after their 8th place performance in the 2020-21 season. They were in the running and extremely close to winning it all until the last game, but fell just short. Being so close to winning, the team kept all their players.

The Phoenix got off to a rough startin October, having a third of their games being 4ths. There was some hope in the 3rd week, being the best performing team of the week, but they ended up losing it all a week later. They finished out October in 7th place.

November was the month of 3rds with 8/16 of their games being 3rds. However, many of these were escaping 4th place. Through these efforts, the team was able to keep their 4ths to just 1 in November. With that few 4ths, the team was able to gain points and move up to 6th.

December seemed like a repeat of October. 5/14 games were 4ths. They lost almost 200.0pts during the month and finished the year around -300.0, sitting back at 7th place.

Next Steps

The Sega Sammy Phoenix like to win big hands, holding the second-highest average hand value. However, those hands are few, having the lowest win rate in the league. The team shouldn’t be afraid to win cheap hands. A winning 3,900 point hand is worth more than a baiman tenpai.

In terms of players, Kayamori is currently going 9 games without a 4th. To stop the bleeding, Kayamori is your go-to. For points, Tojo is running well. For any game against the Pirates, Uotani will always beat Yu. As for Kondo, his end of the season performance last season makes him the perfect choice for high-pressure situations.

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8th: Akasaka Drivens (-406.5pts)

Record: 8-14-13-13, -406.5pts

The 2021-22 season was rough for the Akasaka Drivens. Even though Taro and Maruyama had their best regular seasons ever, Murakami just couldn’t win and finished the season 30th out of 32 players. With the team finishing negative, they ended up 7th, missing the post-season. With Taro and Maruyama having a good season and Murakami having an unusually unlucky season, the team decided to try again with the same team.

Despite their optimism for the new season and Sonoda winning the team’s first game, not many positive things could be said about October for the Drivens. The team had no other 1sts during the month, 3rds and 4ths made up almost 75% of their games. Their best player was 22nd in the individual standings. The team was down to -325.1pts by the end of the month.

In November, team captain Sonoda took charge. With three 1sts in a row, he provided some hope for the struggling team. Unforunately, the rest of the team only had one 1st combined, leaving the team ending the month with almost the same score that they started with.

In December, the team began to drop again. The team added only two more 1sts, with Murakami and Maruyama still unable to get their first wins. Despite Sonoda’s best efforts to raise the team’s score, they ended up finishing the year at below -400.0pts, more than 100.00pts away from 7th.

Next Steps

As it stands, the team is in a very precarious position. Since Akasaka Drivens failed to make the finals in the M-League 2021-22, another failed attempt will mean a forced roster change. However, a shock to the system may be just what the team needs. The EX Furinkazan full team firing threat worked in 2020-21, Sawazaki missing the finals did it for the Kadokawa Sakura Knights in the 2021-22 season. Maybe this roster team threat will work for the Drivens?

For more practical steps, the team needs to be more aggressive. They have the second-lowest deal-in rate, but they also have the second-lowest win rate. Their most successful player, Sonoda Ken, has mastered this with his 21.69% win rate. Because 1st place has a much higher payoff due to the oka/uma, a more aggressive style will pay off more.

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