It’s only been 2 weeks since the end of the M-League 2024-25 season and there has been a lot of exciting news released! Today, we’ll go over all the news and the tournaments coming up during the offseason.
Table of Contents
New Team: Earth Jets
On May 26, it was announced that a new team, sponsored by Earth Corporation, would be formed.
On May 28, the team’s name was revealed to be “Earth Jets”. Their logo and social media were also revealed.
Contract Statuses
At the time of writing, only three teams have announced the status of their players.
Beast X
On April 4, 2025, the Beast X announced that they would be renewing the contracts for Suzuki Daisuke and Nakada Kana, but Sarukawa Masatoshi and Sugawara Hiroe will have fight for a spot on the team in the Beast X Member Replacement Audition.
EX Furinkazan
On April 16, 2025, the EX Furinkazan announced that they will be dropping Matsugase Takaya (松ヶ瀬隆弥) and Nikaido Rumi (二階堂瑠美) as players, with Rumi taking on a new role on the team. They also announced that they will hold a draft audition to determine who will fill one of the vacant spots on the team.
Kadokawa Sakura Knights
On May 19, 2025, the Kadokawa Sakura Knights announced that they will be dropping Uchikawa Kotaro from the team. It was also revealed that Uchikawa is the “Mister X” who was teased for the EX Furinkazan Audition.
M-League 2025-26 Outline and Draft Date
On May 26, the league announced that the M-League 2025-26 Draft would be on June 30. They also put out some details about the upcoming season, including an increase to the grand prize from 50 million yen to 70 million yen.
EX Furinkazan New Member Audition 2025
To determine one of the spots to fill in the vacancies left by Matsugase and Rumi, the EX Furinkazan will be holding a player audition.
Semifinals
The audition semifinals will take place on June 15 and June 21 and will involve the following players:
- Shinohara Saemi (篠原 冴美) (JPML, 3rd Special Sparring Partner/IKUSA 2025 winner)
- Nagai Kousuke (永井 孝典) (Saikouisen, 2nd Special Sparring Partner/IKUSA 2024 winner)
As well as six recommended players:
- Arai Keibun (新井啓文) (Saikouisen)
- Uotani Yuumi (魚谷侑未) (JPML, former Sega Sammy Phoenix [2018-2024])
- Kouno Naoya (河野直也) (Saikouisen, M-League Colour Commentator)
- Murakami Jun (村上淳) (Saikouisen, former Akasaka Drivens [2018-2023])
- Shimoishi Geki (下石戟) (NPM)
- Uchikawa Kotaro (内川幸太郎) (JPML, former Kadokawa Sakura Knights [2019-2025]) (Previously known as just “Mister X” [ミスターX])
The first four games will be played on June 15 starting at 12:00 JST and there will be a live broadcast on the EX Furinkazan YouTube channel.
The following eight games will be played on June 21 starting at 10:00 JST and there will be a broadcast on the ABEMA Mahjong Channel.
Finals
The finals will be on June 22 and will involve
- The top 3 players of the semifinals
- Hitotsui Shinya (一井慎也) (JPML, 1st Special Sparring Partner/IKUSA 2023 winner)
The finals will be three games long and will be broadcast on the ABEMA Mahjong Channel starting at 15:00 JST.
Beast X Member Replacement Audition
Starting from May 22, 2025 until June 15, 2025, the Beast X will be holding an audition to determine one of their draft picks for the upcoming M-League 2025-26 Draft.
Six players, including two Beast X members at risk of being dropped, will be competing in the audition.
- Sarukawa Masatoshi (猿川真寿) (JPML, Beast X member [2022-2025?])
- Sugawara Hiroe (菅原千瑛) (JPML, former Beast Japanext Audition winner, Beast X member [2022-2025?])
- Arai Keibun (新井啓文) (Saikouisen) (Previous Beast Japanext Audition runner up)
- Asai Yusuke (浅井裕介) (Saikouisen, former Beast Japanext Audition competitor)
- Shimoishi Geki (下石戟) (NPM)
- Tomozoe Toshiyuki (友添敏之) (Saikouisen)
On May 18, May 25 (going from 2:30PM to 7:00PM on both days) and June 1 (going from 2:30PM to 8:00PM), the six player will play a total of 6 games each (9 games total) across the three days. The top four players will advance to the finals.
Carrying half of their score (rounded up) into the finals, the four finalists will play a total of 5 more games to determine the winner. The first three games will be on June 8 (going from 2:30PM to 7:00PM) , while the final two games will be on June 15 (going from 7:00PM to 11:00PM)
All games will be broadcast on the BS10 channel.
M-Tournament
On June 2, 2025, the third edition of the M-Tournament will begin.
The M-Tournament is a competition lasting around 2 months which will feature the 36 M-Leaguers and 24 selected pros. These competitors will compete individually for the championship.
Games played on Monday can be watched for free on the ABEMA Mahjong channel, while games on Fridays will require ABEMA Premium.
Format
- 1st Round: June 2, June 6, June 9, June 13, June 16, June 20, June 23 (15:00 JST)
- 56 players (14 tables)
- 32 M-Leaguers (all except the four members of the championship-winning Sega Sammy Phoenix [Kayamori Sayaka, Daigo Hiroshi, Takeuchi Genta, Asai Takaki])
- 24 selected pros
- 2 tables per day
- 2 hanchan per table, top 2 advance
- 56 players (14 tables)
- 2nd Round: July 7, July 11, July 14, July 18 (15:00 JST)
- 32 players (8 tables)
- 28 players who advanced from the 1st round
- 4 members of the championship-winning team
- 2 tables per day
- 2 hanchan, top 2 advance
- 32 players (8 tables)
- Quarterfinals: July 21, 25 (15:00 JST)
- 16 players (4 tables)
- 16 players from the 2nd round
- 2 tables per day
- 2 hanchan, top 2 advance
- 16 players (4 tables)
- Semifinals: July 28 (15:00 JST)
- 8 players, (2 tables)
- 8 players from the quarterfinals
- 2 hanchan, top 2 advance
- 8 players, (2 tables)
- Finals: August 1 (19:00 JST)
- 4 players (1 table)
- 4 players who advanced from the semifinals
- 2 hanchan, winner wins it all
- 4 players (1 table)
36 M-Leaguers
2nd Round seeded Sega Sammy Phoenix
24 Selected Pros
- Uotani Yuumi (魚谷侑未) (JPML, former Sega Sammy Phoenix [2018-2024])
- Kondo Seiichi (近藤誠一) (Saikouisen, former Sega Sammy Phoenix [2018-2023])
- Tojo Rio (東城りお) (JPML, former Sega Sammy Phoenix [2021-2024])
- Okamoto Souhei (岡本壮平) (Saikouisen, 12th・15th Tenhoui)
- Akutsu Shouta (阿久津翔太) (JPML)
- Yajima Tooru (矢島亨) (NPM)
- Fukushima Yuichi (福島佑一) (JPML)
- Kanamiya Jun (金宮じゅん) (RMU)
- Oshida Yukio (忍田幸夫) (Mu, M-League Colour Commentator)
- Kouno Takashi (河野高志) (RMU)
- Murakami Jun (村上淳) (Saikouisen, former Akasaka Drivens player [2018-2023])
- Sawazaki Makoto (沢崎誠) (JPML, former Kadokawa Sakura Knights player [2019-2022])
- Fujisaki Satoshi (藤崎智) (JPML, former Konami Mahjong Fight Club player [2019-2021])
- Sakai Hidetaka (坂井秀隆) (Saikouisen)
- Ogawa Kou (小川光) (RMU)
- Aikawa Megumu (逢川恵夢) (NPM)
- Miura Tomohiro (三浦智博) (JPML)
- Aikawa Marie (相川まりえ) (Saikouisen)
- Ishii Kazuma (石井一馬) (Saikouisen)
- Kuwada Kenta (桑田憲汰) (JPML)
- Maeda Naoya (前田直哉) (JPML)
- Shimizu Kaori (清水香織) (JPML)
- Iida Masataka (飯田雅貴) (NPM)
- Gao Yunfei (高雲飛) (Saikouisen) (23rd Tenhoui)
M-League Official Shop Online Store
On May 22, 2025, the M-League Official Shop Online Store was officially launched.
Not to be confused with the M-League Official Online Store (which offers some M-League goods through the M-League website), the M-League Official Shop Online Store sells products that were perviously only available at the in-person M-League Official Shops in Maruken Junkudo Bookstores.
M-League Watch 
One thought on “M-League 2025-26 Preseason: Late May Update”