Monday (September 15)
Game 1
Earth Jets
Beast X
Akasaka
Drivens
U-Next Pirates
It Begins
September 15, Game 1, E1-0
On September 15, 2025, a few minutes after 19:00 JST, the first game of the M-League 2025-26 season began. Sitting at the table is M-League veteran Sonoda Ken facing off against 2023-24 MVP Suzuki Yu, as well as newcomers Ishii Kazuma and Shimoishi Geki.
In E1-0, Sonoda starts out the hand at 2-shanten with no immediate value. With the hand leaning towards tanyao, he gets rid of his 12s block quite early, as well as shifts his 89s block to a 68s block. By the end of the first row, Sonoda’s hand is comprised of only simple tiles.
However, while he built his hand, Kazuma called pon on the green dragon, 5s (with the red 5s embedded) and the white dragon, putting him one-away. In the middle of his second row, Kazuma is the first to tenpai and waits on a 3s tanki.
In his second row, Sonoda is able to call chii on the dora 7s to get to iishanten. A turn later, he gets to tenpai on a 3m kanchan with two left in the wall.
Though Kazuma draws one 3m to improve to a 36m wait, Sonoda is able to get the final 3m and wins the first hand of the season. Sonoda wins with Tanyao/Dora 1 for 500/1,000.
All Reds
September 15, Game 1, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s80_p2002
In E3-0, Sonoda is back down to his starting score and sits 7,500 behind 1st place Yu. However, Sonoda has the opportunity to gain a lot of points with the dealership.
From the very beginning, Sonoda has all three of the red fives as part of either sequences or ryanmens, giving him space to create a very quick and expensive hand. Even as he makes a 9m pair, he has a pair of 2s to shift his hand back to all simples. By the end of the first row, he is iishanten for a riichi hand, 2-shanten for tanyao. Soon after, Sonoda calls a 456m chii and confirms his pursuit of tanyao.
At the start of the second row, Shimoishi makes his move and calls riichi on an 8s/3p shanpon.
In the middle of the row, Sonoda calls another 456m sequence and gets to tenpai on a 47p ryanmen. A win on the 4p would give him sanshoku.
Shimoishi keeps drawing and discarding and Sonoda does the same, unbudging against the riichi.
In the third row, Yu joins the fray and calls riichi on a 14p ryanmen.
Unfortunately for Yu, he draws the 7p on his ippatsu turn and deals into Sonoda.
Sonoda wins the hand with Tanyao/Aka 3 for 12,000 plus two riichi sticks, moving Sonoda up to 1st and Yu down from 1st to tied for last.
Welcome to M-League
September 15, Game 1, E3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p11001
In E3-1, Shimoishi is currently tied for last and still looking for his first win of the season.
From the start, Shimoishi has a triplet of the non-yakuhai souths and a 789s sequence, but there’s a lack of value in his hand.
But through the first row, honours and souzu keep coming. From his single red dragon and single green dragon dora, he manages to make pairs of both in the first row. In addition, he creates a 69s ryanmen, wanting to get the 9s to add chanta and iipeikou (if he keeps the hand closed).
In the second row, Shimioshi adds another green dragon to his hand, getting him to tenpai and waits dama on a 69s ryanmen. If he wins off the 6s, he will have a haneman. With the 9s, he adds chanta and iipeikou to get to a 10-han baiman. With tsumo, that would be upgraded to a big sanbaiman.
Immediately after, 1st place Sonoda drops the 9s and deals into Shimoishi. Shimoishi gets a huge Honitsu/Chanta/Iipeikou/Green Dragon/Dora 3 for 16,000+300, suddenly catapulting him up to 1st place.
Ken Comeback
September 15, Game 1
In S3-0, Sonoda is in 4th place and 14,800 behind 3rd place Yu. Despite the rollercoaster bring him down to such a low, he still has chance with his dealership to get back to 1st place.
Sonoda lacks value in his 4-shanten starting hand, but moves ahead efficiently to try to find the value. The first row only gets him to 3-shanten with a kanchan and a penchan, but the second row lets him shift to a perfect iishanten.
Near the middle of the third row, Sonoda gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen, holding pinfu as his only other yaku. Shimoishi chases within the go-around on a 25p ryanmen, but Sonoda manages to capture the 8p on his next draw to win the hand. Hitting the uradora, Sonoda wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Ura 1 for 4,000 all. With a little bit of luck, Sonoda’s near-worthless hand has brought him up to 2nd place.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7001
In S3-1, Sonoda has a strong 2-shanten hand with mostly honours and souzu. Though getting to honitsu is a little more work, there is a path to a mangan with it. The first row is very generous to Sonoda, allowing him to call pon on the white dragon and pair up the red dragon, getting him to iishanten. At the end of the first row, Sonoda gets to tenpai on a 47s ryanmen.
Immediately after, Yu gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen.
Both player have many winning tiles left in the wall, so it’s only a matter of who will get it. In the second row Sonoda draw the red 5s to upgrade his hand to a mangan. On his next draw, he gets the 4s and wins the hand. Sonoda wins with Honitsu/White Dragon/Aka 1 for 4,000+100 plus Yu’s riichi stick, pushing him up to 1st place.
From a dealer baiman deal-in, Sonoda has reversed his fortunes and sits in 1st place, where he will remain for the rest of the game.
Results
Game 1
Akasaka
Drivens
1st
34,900 (+54.9)
U-Next Pirates
2nd
29,800 (+9.8)
Earth Jets
3rd
24,100 (-15.9)
Beast X
4th
11,200 (-48.8)
Game 2
Akasaka
Drivens
Earth Jets
U-Next Pirates
Beast X
Yakuman Tenpai!!!
September 15, Game 2, S1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10502
In S1-1, Nakabayashi is in 3rd place, 11,000 behind 2nd place Taro and 11,200 behind 1st place Tojo.
From Nakabayashi’s starting hand, he has a triplet of 1m and pairs of 2s, 6s and 7p. He could keep the pairs and aim for seven pairs, or he can call pon on them and go for all triplets. But, if he manages to make them into triplets and stay closed, he could make it into an incredible yakuman.
In the first row, he doesn’t really make any progress, only making the 2s into a triplet. But, progress is progress.
In the middle of the second row, Nakabayashi creates a 77899p shape to be tenpai on an 8p kanchan. He only has iipeikou in his hand, but he stays dama for a chance to upgrade to a suuankou, needing to draw a 7p, 9p or 6s to make the yakuman tenpai happen.
Within the go-around, Tojo gets to tenpai on a yakuless 2s wait, while dealer Taro gets to tenpai on a 36s ryanmen.
A few turns later, Nakabayashi does it. He draws the 9p. Staying dama, he waits silently for the 7p or the 6s. If he calls ron, it would be a mangan. If he draws either of them himself, he will quadruple that and get a huge yakuman.
However, Nakabayashi still has to fight against three other players. A win from any one of them can make the yakuman tenpai worthless.
In the third row, Miura has a choice between a 25p ryanmen and a 3p/6p shanpon. With better efficiency, Miura easily chooses the ryanmen. But, on his next turn, he ends up drawing another 3p, which would have been his winning tile if he had taken the shanpon.
And with Miura’s missed win, it gives Nakabayashi a window. On Nakabayashi’s very next draw, he manages to snag the 7p and win! Nakabayashi wins with Suuankou for a big 8,000+100/16,000+100 reward.
Nakabayashi’s win on the second game of the first day mirrors Date Arisa’s win in the second game of the first day of the 2022-23 season.
Taro
September 15, Game 2, S3-1
In S3-1, Taro is in 3rd place and 8,200 behind 2nd place Tojo. Two riichi sticks and a honba sit in the pot.
With Taro’s very first draw, he gets himself to iishanten, needing to fill in a 26p ryanmen and a 3s kanchan. With everything but his kanchan being either pinzu or an honour, a little bit of shifting can up his hand’s value to a mangan. On turn 2, he calls pon on the east and breaks the souzu shape. Through the rest of the first row, he draws a 4p and a 5p to get to tenpai and create a wide 458p shape with six of them left in the wall. With such a wide wait, it’s no surprise that he is able to get it on his next draw and win the hand. Taro wins with Honitsu/East/West/Aka 1 for 2,000+100/4,000+100 plus two riichi stick, moving him into 2nd place.
Results
Game 2
U-Next Pirates
1st
46,400 (+66.4)
Beast X
2nd
26,100 (+6.1)
Akasaka
Drivens
3rd
22,500 (-17.5)
Earth Jets
4th
5,000 (-55.0)
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