Standings

The top performing team this week is the U-Next Pirates. This recent run has been one of the team’s best run ever, behind only their championship-winning finals run in the 2019-20 season. Going into this week, the team was already on a two-game winning streak after back-back to-back wins from Mizuhara and Kobayashi. On Monday, it was the UK duo’s turn. Nakabayashi starts out with a dealer haneman in the east round and some more hands late in the game to extend the streak to 3. With a clutch win in South 4 by Yu extended that streak to 4, tying the team’s record for most 1sts in a row. With this record-tying performance and contributions from all team members, GONENGO, one of the team’s sponsors, gave their employees a day off to celebrate the occasion. On Friday, they started back at the start of the rotation with Mizuhara. She was behind in the first half of the game, but she managed to get two mangans in a to get back in the running. With a comeback-spoiling win in South 4, Mizuhara brought the team’s 1st place streak to a record-setting 5 games in a row. Unfortunately, the streak ended with Kobayashi’s 4th place the next game, but he still had a good performance with three hands won and no deal-ins. With their 3/0/0/1 record and +138.5pts gain, the team moves into 2nd place overall and cuts their gap from 1st place in half. With one more good week, the team may be able to move into top spot.

Next in the performance rankings is Team Raiden. The start of the week was a bit rough for the team with Honda registering a 4th and Hagiwara losing his 1st place at the last minute. With the team dipping into the negatives, team veterans Setokuma and Kurosawa were brought out. Going into the last hand, Setokuma was behind in 4th place. With some timing and a bit of luck, Setokuma was able to jump from 4th to 1st in one hand for his first win since September 13. With a big streak from Kurosawa in East 4, she was easily able to win her game. The U-Next Pirates were able to tie their record after ending last week with back-to-back wins. Can Team Raiden do the same? This week, the team went 2/1/0/1 with a gain of +63.3pts, narrowing the gap between them and 4th place.

The EX Furinkazan are 3rd in the performance rankings. Holding onto top spot, extra points never hurt anyone. Though they were up against some stiff competition, they played well. Against Hisato, Matsumoto and Uchikawa, Katsumata was able to stand his ground and beat all three of them with a slow and steady rise. Against the strong Raiden veteran duo, Katsumata and Aki were both able to hold 2nds to gain points for the team. With their 1/2/0/1 record and 42.2pts gain this week, the team sits just one 1st away from breaking the +500.0pts mark.

Kadokawa Sakura Knights are the last gaining team this week. The team is currently in 6th place in the standings, the last spot to make the semifinals. Though they are struggling to move higher in the standings, they are doing a good job of getting further away from 7th and 8th place. In their fights against the Drivens, the Sakura Knights were the top team of the day with the Drivens losing points. The gains this week were thanks to Hori, the man who ended the Pirates’ winning streak and winner of 30,000 in just two hands. This week, the team went 1/0/3/0 with a slight gain of +0.8pts.

Going into the negatives, the Shibuya Abemas take 5th in the performance rankings. Compared to early January, the team is improving. Hinata was close to getting 1st in her game, but had to settle with a 2nd to extend to 4th-place avoidance streak to 14 games. Matsumoto was in the lead before Katsumata went on a strong run and leaving Matsumoto with 2nd spot. Ooi was good in South 4, but had to settle with a ±0.0pts 2nd place. The team is 0/3/0/1 with a loss of -26.0pts, but they are still in a good playoff position in 4th place int he standings.

6th in the performance rankings are the Akasaka Drivens. The team hasn’t gotten a 1st place since December 13. 23 games without a 1st. They have 8 firsts in 64 games while Honda has 10 firsts in 19 games. Murakami draws Mizuhara’s winning tile during the ippatsu turn while he has a comeback hand. Taro deals into Kobayashi just as he gets to tenpai for a potential yakuman. Someone call an exorcist. With the end of the season coming in less than 2 months, the first thing they have to do is win just one game. Once they can find 1sts again, they can try to target the lower-ranked teams to make their work a bit easier. Otherwise, one of them will be saying goodbye to the team. This week, the team went 0/1/3/0 with a -41.3pts drop, putting them 516.8pts below the cutoff.

Konami Mahjong Fight Club are next. The team started the week well with the previously struggling Takizawa winning his third game of the month and sitting as the top performer this month so far. Unfortunately, things started to roll downhill from there. Hisato called riichi 7 times and only won once, leaving him in 4th place and still without a 1st this month. Takamiya got 3rd and was just 1,300 away from falling into 4th. Date’s riichi calls couldn’t connect either, leaving her in 4th as well. With the 1/0/1/2 record and -74.7pts drop, the team falls into 3rd place overall.

And finally, coming last in the performance rankings, we have the Sega Sammy Phoenix. The team has been going on bad streaks at the worst of times. Even when they perform well and don’t deal in, tsumo punishments drag them down. Kondo was in 1st place before Nakabayashi passed him near the end of the game. Kayamori dealt into Hagiwara’s 1st row dealer haneman. Uotani didn’t deal in and was only 3,900 behing 1st, but ended the game 4th. With a -102.8pts and as 0/1/1/2 record, the team falls close to -500.0pts. However, they still have a chance at a playoff spot with some good wins and targetting. The Phoenix were the best performers in February last season? Can they do it again this season?

This Week’s M-League Stats

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That’s all for this week! January is almost done and we head into February next week? It may be the shortest month, but it surely won’t be short on excitement! Will the U-Next Pirates start another streak and make another push for 1st? Can the Phoenix fight the flowers (Sakura Knight) and move in front? Will the Drivens finally get the 1st they’ve been looking for? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see!

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