Standings
The Akasaka Drivens remain in 1st place in the standings, but their lead has been cut by more than half. In the first day of the semifinals, a 3rd place and a rare 3rd place tiecaused the team to drop by -61.4pts. Things looked like it would be good with Taro’s big +75.2pts win, but Sonoda ended up with the Akasaka Drivens’ worst result with a -91.8pts drop. With the results of the past few days, the Akaska Drivens’ lead has been cut from 317.2pts to 129.2pts.
The U-Next Pirates remain in 2nd place, but they are now closer to the Akasaka Drivens and a new rival on their tail. In Every single game, they gained points. With the whole team playing, Nakabayashi gained the most with a 79.8pts 1st place, with the rest of the team getting 2nd place. The biggest highlight for the team is a comeback 2nd place in bother of their games on Thursday. They do sit 129.2pts behind 1st place Akasaka Drivens, but Team Raiden is approaching and is 46.4pts behind them.
Team Raiden has had one of their best semifinals results in the team’s history. The team’s first day had an interesting mix of a 44,500 2nd place and a 39,000 3rd place, netting the team a 23.5pts gain on the day. On Thursday, the team had their first daily double in about 4 years, headed by Kurosawa and Honda. By the end of the fifth, the team was up by +139.0pts and is now in 3rd place. If they can have another good fifth in the next three game days, Team Raiden can go up to 2nd place or maybe even 1st.
Despite gaining +40.4pts this fifth, the Sega Sammy Phoenix drops down to 4th place overall. The team started off well with a Daigo 1st place and a Kayamori 2nd place, giving the team a +69.7pts gain on the day. However, the team dropped a bit with a double 3rd place on Thursday. WIth Team Raiden’s surge, the Sega Sammy Phoenix is now in the final playoff spot.
The Konami Mahjong Fight Club drops this week, moving a bit further away from a playoff spot. Things looked okay on Tuesday after a 3rd place and a 1st place for the team, giving them a slight gaing. Unfortunately, a double 4th place (especially Hisato’s haneman deal-in in the final hand to move from 2nd to 4th) tanked the team. With their -54.4pts drop this week, the team’s deficit on 4th place increases from 61.2pts to 160.7pts.
And finally, we have the Shibuya Abemas. They needed to win to win a lot this week, but they couldn’t get a 1st place, the only team that doesn’t have one. A 4th place and a 3rd place tie to start off their week felt like a double 4th for the team. On Tuesday, HInata had a big -19,200 4th place to drop the team even more. The only shining light for the team was Shiratori’s 43,300 2nd place. Now sitting 470.3pts away from a playoff spot, it is imperative for them to win and get some direct hits off their biggest rivals.
And with that, we are 1/5 of the way through the semifinals! Just three weeks from now, the semifinals will be over. Can the U-Next Pirates continue to make big gains and move ahead of the Akasaka Drivens? Can Team Raiden make another move up? Can the Shibuya Abemas start their recovery? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see!
Intro | Standings
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