Standings

The top performing team this week is the Konami Mahjong Fight Club. The Konami Mahjong Fight Club is making it clear that they will be fighting for top spot. Date and Takamiya were able to get thre 2nds between them to add some gains despite challenging opponents. In Takamiya’s case, she was able to win a big hand in South 4 to move from 4th to 2nd. On Thursday, Hisato was sent out to fight for the team. Compared to his other seasons, Hisato has been struggling, sitting in the negatives. However, that did not faze him. Hisato fought and had win after win after win. When all of it was done, he won 7 hands and won the game with 75,600 (+95.6). With that big gain, the team ended the week with a +118.7pts gain and a 1/3/0/0 record.

Second in the performance rankings is the Kadokawa Sakura Knights. The team started the week just above the border at 6th place. Being just one 4th away from falling below the line, the team knew what was at stake and they responded. Uchikawa had a very close game, but was able to hold onto an 800 lead to win his game. Hori was 4th going into the last two hands of the game, but was able to win two big hands to finish the game in 1st place. With a 2/1/0/1 record and a +68.1pts, the team puts just a bit more space between them and the chasing teams.

Sega Sammy Phoenix are 3rd in the performance rankings. Sitting just below the cutoff, the team is so close to a playoff spot. Just one more win, just some more gain and it would be enough. The 6th place Kadokawa Sakura Knights got back to back wins on Monday, so the Sega Sammy Phoenix needed to respond. They did pretty well, with Tojo able to get ther third 1st in a row and Uotani able to avoid 3rd despite dealing into a yakuman. On Friday, the Phoenix and Sakura Knights faced off against each other for a big chance to shift the standings. In the first game, the Phoenix got 3rd while the Sakura Knights got 1st, causing a shift downwards. The next game, they were able to better and flip the standings, getting 1st against the Sakura Knights’ 4th to get a bit closer. In the end, the team finished the week with a 2/0/1/1 record and a +50.1pts gain, again sitting just 1st away from 4th place.

The last gaining team this week is the EX Furinkazan. They weren’t able to get a 1st this week, but they were able to avoid 4th. The biggest result for the team this week and potentially the highlight of the month is Aki’s game. Going into the south round, Aki was in 3rd place and Uotani was holding a huge lead over the rest of the pack. In one of the hands, she was just drawing more and more triplets. By the middle of the second row, she had four concealed triplets and was waiting on a 9m tanki. Having thrown the 6m previously and Uotani holding a 9m ankou, it was the perfect trap to win the suuankou tanki and flip the standings. By the end of the week, the team went 0/3/1/0 to gain +13.1pts, increasing the team’s score.

Going into the negatives, the Akasaka Drivens are 5th in the performance rankings. Though the team ended up losing points this week with a 1/0/2/1 record and a -33.5pts drop, the team had a huge bright spot in the week. Murakami Jun, sitting more than a year without a 1st place, was sent out to face 1st round picks Uotani Yuumi, Nikaido Aki and Kobayashi Go. After Aki’s suuankou tanki, it looked like a 1st place was hopeless. However, Murakami didn’t give up. With multiple wins and a timely South 4 win, Murakami was able to beat the odds and win his first game of the season. Though their chances of getting to the playoffs seem to be diminishing, some positive momentum after Murakami’s win could give the team the push to make it.

Next are the U-Next Pirates. The team was really struggling at the end of last week, being 8 games without a 1st. Unfortunately, the first two games of the week wasn’t much better. Nakabayashi dealt in three time sand wasn’t able to win a game and Kobayashi got last even when Uotani dealt into a yakuman. With all these losses, last season’s MVP was sent out to save the team. Mizuhara was able to handily win 5 hands and win the game, bringing her up to 2nd place in the individual standings and giving her a chance at an MVP repeat. With a solid 2nd from Yu, the team was able to end the week 1/1/0/2 with a -39.8pts loss, hoklding their position of 3rd place in the overall standings.

Team Raiden take 7th in the performance rankings. Team Raiden is continuing to struggle and slip closer and closer to 6th. Powerhouse Honda lost his second game in a row and Hagiwara continues to struggle, moving to 31st in the overall standings. The one positive thing for the team is Setokuma’s second win of the season. With the 1/0/1/2 record and a -76.9pts drop, the Team is 95.4pts away from 6th. They will have a tough challenge next week, facing the 7th place Phoenix in all four of their games. They will need to play strongly in order to keep their playoff spot.

And finally, coming last in the performance rankings, is the Shibuya Abemas. Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Once at the top of the standings with over +500.0pts, they are just a 3rd away from going into the negatives. Sitting with only three 1sts this calendar year, they are just unable to get any gains. This week, they had a bunch of 3rds and Ooi got a 4th, moving Ooi to one of his lowest regular season scores in his career. With a 0/0/3/1 record and a -99.8pts drop, they are left with just +0.3pts in 4th place.

This Week’s M-League Stats

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That’s all for this week! We’re more than halfway through the February and just over a month away from the end of the regular season? How will it all end? Will the Akasaka Drivens and Sega Sammy Phoenix get enough for a comeback? Can the Kadokawa Sakura Knights and Team Raiden defend their turf? Will we see another yakuman? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see!

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