M-League 2022-23 Semifinals: The Teams

The M-League 2022-23 Semifinals begin on April 10! Today, we’ll take a look at which teams will be playing, how they got here and what they will need to do to succeed.

1. Konami Mahjong Fight Club

Regular Season: +592.2pts (28/24/21/21)

In late December of the 2021-22 season, the Konami Mahjong Fight Club managed to reach the top of the standings for the first time in the team’s history. Though the team only ended up finishing in 4th place, they had their best performance yet. With a strong team, they kept their roster to try again.

They surely started the season off with a bang, with Date winning a suuankou during a public viewing on the very first day of the season. By the end of the first week, they were at the top of the standings.

As the season went on, the team steadily gained points. If they had a down week, they would gain it back and a bit more in just a few games. Though Date was clearly the top player of the team this season, Hisato and Takamiya were both very strong in their support. At the start of January, they were able to move back into 1st place overall. In February, they had a huge month, being positive every week and breaking the +500.0pts barrier.

As they fought with the EX Furinkazan for top spot overall, Date was also fighting for the league’s MVP title. After Date won two games in February, all she had to do is to fend off Honda and Mizuhara. In her last game of the season, she kept Mizuhara below and stopped Honda from winning big to finish the season at the top of the standings, winning the MVP title.

Going Into the Semifinals: +296.1pts

The team has done well to get this far, but the post-season is where the challenges start. Over the past few years, the team has struggled to do well after the regular season. Last year was the first time they advanced from the semifinals, but they placed 4th at the end. With their fourth time in the semifinals, they need to come up with a good game plan to succeed.

Looking at the team’s results in the past few years, Hisato and Takizawa have both struggled in the post-season. Because of this, the team should put them out at the start of the semifinals. If either of them do well, they can play more games. Once they have a better idea of where they are in the standings, Date and Takamiya should be sent out more to gain more points.

In terms of targeting, they have two choices: fight one or fight all. If they choose to fight just the EX Furinkazan, they can increase their lead, but have multiple teams to fend off in the finals. If they fight the teams vying for 3rd and 4th now, then they can put most of their focus on just the EX Furinkazan in the finals.

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2. EX Furinkazan

Regular Season: +586.1pts (26/29/18/21)

After finishing the team struggled in the early part of the semifinals, the team tried to rally hard at the end and just missed, finishing 5th. With Matsugase and Rumi new to the team and Katsumata and Aki being team staples, the team kept their team for another season.

Over the first three weeks of the season, the team fell down to -200.0pts, but they managed to erase those loss in just two weeks. From there, they just kept gaining. Week after week, they gained points. Katsumata moved to 1st in the individual standings, the team had five straight weeks of gains and were at +250.0pts by week 8. By the end of 2022, they were sitting solidly in 2nd.

Even as the calendar changed, the team’s momentum did not. Through January and February, the team only had positive weeks. Gains kept coming and coming. They touched +300.0pts on week 14, passed +400.0pts in week 15 and +500.0pts in week 17. Katsumata was avoiding 4ths and Matsugase and Rumi were climbing the standings. By the end of February, the three of them were in the league’s top 10.

As March came, there were two thing on their mind: keep the Konami Mahjong Fight Club at bay and win awards. The first one just needed them to hit the Konami Mahjong Fight Club and stay above. Unfortunately, their opposition was unrelenting and they were eventually surpassed. The second thing they had to do was a bit harder. Going into the final two games, both Matsugase and Katsumata were in contention for the MVP award. Since Katsumata was already 1st in the 4th-place avoidance category and couldn’t afford too many 4ths, Matsugase was sent out to try to win it. Unfortunately, Matsugase was unable to get 1sts and finished 7th in the individual standings. By the end of the season, the team had +586.1pts and their best regular season ever.

Going Into the Semifinals: +293.1pts

With the team not making the finals last season, they have to make the finals this season to keep their team. Though they have a very big lead over 5th, they need to make sure that they aren’t complacent. Be conscious of their standing and their opponents while still aiming for big wins.

Though Rumi struggled last season, she has proven herself this season that she can get good gains. Send her out first during the semifinals along with Aki and see how well they do. If they do well, they can play more. If they have troubles, they should stand back and let their teammates take care of things.

With Katsumata being the MVP of the 2021-22 finals where they won the championship and the player to get +83.7pts last season trying to get the team into the finals, he is the one to rely on to get consistent gains. With Matsugase also doing well this season, he will be good as a co-lead with Katsumata.

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3. Shibuya Abemas

Regular Season: +55.6pts (21/29/24/20)

In the 2021-22 season, the team managed to finish the finals in 3rd place for the fourth season in a row. Embracing their 3rd place position, the team even made a BRONZE COLLECTOR towel as merch. However, they still want to win the championship. With the success that they’ve had with their current team, all members stayed to give it another go.

In the first two months of the season, they came out swinging. Week after week, they were gaining more and more points. At the start of November, Hinata won a big sanbaiman with Riichi/Rinshan/Tsumo/Dora 4/Ura 5 to get them above +500.0pts. At around the start of December, they had a 350.0pts lead over 2nd place and three of their players were in the top 7.

Through the rest of the season, however, they had some troubles. In the first two weeks of 2023, they lost a total of -200.3pts and fell all the way down to 4th place. With all the players struggling to find 1sts and Hinata getting her first 4th of the season, the team continued to slip. In the first two weeks of February they lost about another -200.0pts and fell into the negatives, a great contrast to what they had just a few months earlier.

After all this dropping, the Shibuya Abemas started the recovery mission at the end of the regular season. In the last five games of the season, they got 1sts and 2nds to have just enough to move into the positives and finish the season in 3rd place.

Going Into the Semifinals: +27.8pts

This is the team’s fourth time making the finals, meaning that they have the most experience out of all the teams. The team should discuss with each other the experiences within the games, whether cues or hints at what other players are doing and what strategy they can use against them.

As with every post-season stint for the team, they end up being over-reliant on Ooi and he always ends up tripping. If the team wants to make sure that they do well, they have to stop sending Ooi out for all of the final games. Spread out your players and don’t rely on one person alone.

Sitting in the middle of the pack, they can either aim for 1st or avoid 5th. If they want to aim for 1st, they will target 1st and 2nd. If they want to avoid 5th, they will target 5th and 6th. The latter being the safer option and the former being the riskier option, it all depends on what the team’s goal is.

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4. Kadokawa Sakura Knights

Regular Season: -41.5pts (27/18/20/29)

In the 2021-22 season, the Kadokawa Sakura Knights had their best result ever and won their very first championship. Unfortunately, the win was bittersweet as Sawazaki was at the hospital with health problems. Though Sawazaki’s health was improving by the time contracts were being signed, they thought it would be best to let Sawazaki rest and not have him play for the team next season. With a spot to fill, the Kadokawa Sakura Knights decided to draft NPM’s title holder and M-League colour commentator Shibukawa Nanba.

In the month of October, they continued their championship high by finishing the month with more than +100.0pts and sitting 3rd in the standings. After that, however, they started to lose points. From Shibukawa’s record-breaking -47,600 to all the players ending 2022 in the negatives, things started to look grim for the team.

For much of January and February, they were sitting in the last playoff spot, in 6th place and closer to 7th than 5th. With the threat of elimination looming, they started to get back in gear in mid-February. Though their gains were small, they were steadily moving up. In two weeks, they had four wins, including a +95.7pts from Okada to lift the team into 3rd place with -52.8pts. They poked their head into the positives and moved around here, finally finishing the season in 4th with -41.5pts.

Going Into the Semifinals: -20.7pts

Over the past four years, no team that has won a championship has ever advanced to the finals the year after. With the Kadokawa Sakura Knights being the defending champions, they have the chance to break this curse.

Before the playoffs even began, they already completed their first mission: get 4th. By placing in the top four of the regular season, they have the advantage of playing in the last day of the semifinals, letting know know exactly how many points they need to advance to the finals.

In terms of players to send, all of the team veterans have always had positive results in the finals. Since they are always a good bet, they should first see what Shibukawa is capable of. If he does well in the first few games, he can be placed in the main team rotation with all players playing equally. If he has trouble, send out the three veterans more often.

If the want to be a bit more tricky, they should target Team Raiden and the U-Next Pirates to make sure that they advance to the finals. If they do that, they will have a chance to be the first team to defend their title.

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5. Team Raiden

Regular Season: -42.4pts (26/21/21/26)

The team had a horrible 2021-22 season, going all the way down to -1256.1pts, the lowest any team has ever gotten by more than double. Even with this result, the team decided to give the group one more chance.

The start of the season was much better compared to the previous season, with the team getting into the positives, breaking the +100.0pts mark and winning the 6th week of the season. During this week, Kurosawa had her record-breaking 112,700 game.

After this week, the team started to lose points. However, one of the player that had struggled since last season started to shine. Honda Tomohiro, the team’s recruit from last season, started to get into the win column. By the end of the month, he had won 4 games. The next month, Honda added 3 more to have a total of 8 wins out of 15 games. After Setokuma won the Mahjong Saikyousen for the second year in a row and Hagiwara getting his first win, the team ended the year around 0.0pts

The first week of 2023 was huge for the team, with three wins for the team and putting them close to +200.0pts. Unfortunately, this gain was not sustainable and the team soon started losing points again. At around the start of March, the team had gotten down to -200.0pts.

As the rest of the team was unable to find wins, Honda kept going strong. He broke the 10 win mark in early January, #11 on January 31 and #12 on March 9. With the team gaining points and the MVP award within reach, Honda was able to tie the league record of 13 wins on March 20. Though Honda just missed the MVP award and placed 2nd individually, the team still had one of their better regular seasons and ended up at -42.4pts.

Going Into the Semifinals: -21.2pts

This is their do or die time. Having missed the finals last season, they need to make the finals this season. If they don’t, then they are forced to change their team.

It is clear that Honda has been having his breakthrough season this season and should be sent first to get the team in a much better position. Once they see how they stack up against the rest of the league, then they can test get people to prove themselves. For all of their roster removal candidates, they should send them out so they can prove to the team that they can do well. If they don’t, then the team will be eliminated and so will they.

If the team wants to have an even better chance at making the finals, they should focus on targeting teams. Hitting the teams in 3rd and 4th in the overall standings will have a much greater impact than hitting the far and away 1st and 2nd teams. If they hit them well enough, they will fall below and Team Raiden will move up, giving them their first finals appearance.

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6. U-Next Pirates

Regular Season: -61.3pts (22/23/29/20)

Despite placing 1st place at the end of the 2021-22 regular season, the team had a disastrous semifinals and ended up getting eliminated. Since this was their second season in a row of failing to make the finals, the team was forced to change their roster. They ended up dropping Asakaura Koushin and Ishibashi Nobuhiro. In the 2022-23 draft, they drafted Suzuki Yu, Saikouisen’s title holder, and NPM’s Nakabayashi Kei.

The team started off hovering between 0.0pts and -200.0pts, with the two new players only getting their first 1sts near the end of the month. After this mediocre October and November, the team had a big December. At the start of December, they were about -100.0pts. After winning two weeks in a row, the team had gotten themselves near +100.0pts.

January was an even bigger month. On January 20, Mizuhara played and got 1st. Then Kobayashi played and got 1st. On January 24, Nakabayashi played and got 1st. Then Yu played and got 1st. Four players and four wins, a first for the league. Mizuhara won the next game to make it 5-in-a-row and make a new team record.

As the season wound down, the team struggled and slowly lost points. In the whole month of February, the team only had one 1st. Near the end, the team fell into the negatives, but the focus was on whether Mizuhara would get the MVP award two months in a row. She got close, but a lack of luck in the last game mean that she would only get 3rd in the individual standings. With their results, the team was able to get the last playoff spot.

Going Into the Semifinals: -30.6pts

The team is currently in 6th place. For realist pessimists, this is the worst possible spot to be in for the semifinals. For superstitious optimists, this is the best spot to be in since the 2021-22 Kadokawa Sakura Knights and the 2019-20 U-Next Pirates were both in this position when they won the championship. Whichever one you are, the U-Next Pirates still have some work to do.

New this season is the addition of NPM’s Nakabayashi Kei. With all the other NPM players (Matsumoto Yoshihiro, Shibukawa Nanba and Hori Shingo) playing in the semifinals, they now have some more inside knowledge on their opponents. With this info, they can gain a slight advantage against them compared to their previous Saikouisen-only team.

The rest of the team plan is simple: gain points. Put Yu and Nakabayashi out first to get more experience, then Mizuhara to get big wins. Near the end of the semifinals, send positional-play Kobayashi to figure out the perfect plays and placement to have the highest chance of advancing. If they take advantage of each player’s strengths, they can have another attempt at the championship.

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