M-League 2025-26: Mid-Season Review

We’re just past the halfway point of the season and the fight for the top 6 is really hot! Today, we’ll look at how each team is doing and figure out what each team can do to find success.

1st: EX Furinkazan (+532.5pts)

Record: 19-18-12-11, +532.5pts

In the 2024-25 season, the EX Furinkazan had their worst result ever, finishing in 8th place with a final score of -751.3pts and an 18/23/25/30 record. After the season finished, Matsugase was dropped from the team after two big negative seasons in a row. Nikaido Rumi also decided to step down as a team and was later appointed the EX Furinkazan’s Chief Happiness Officer (CHO).

In the same vein as Matsugase’s joining, the EX Furinkazan held a tournament with IKUSA tournament winners and a few select players. One of these players was Mister X, a player whose identity was kept secret for a while. It was eventually revealed to be Uchikawa Kotaro, who had be let go by the Kadokawa Sakura Knights. After an intense tournament, 2024 IKUSA winner Nagai Kousuke from Saikouisen won and booked his ticket to the EX Furinkazan roster. At the draft, Uchikawa “Mister X” Kotaro (and soon to be WRC 2025 Champion) was chosen to fill the final spot.

The team started with a rough first day, but things started go go up quite a lot. On their next day, they had a daily double, including a 1st place from newcomer Nagai. From there on, the team continued to be the top performer on the days they played. By the end of September, they were already at +333.6pts with more than half of their games being 1sts.

On Week 4, they were brought back to the ground. Though Katsumata started the week with a 1st place, the entire team got a 4th place, leading to four 4ths in a row. After they were more than 300.0pts above 2nd, they were just a few points from dropping down.

After that scare, they returned to their winning ways. Around the start of November, a double 1st place by Nagai (including a 67,100 1st place, the team’s best game so far this season) returned them back to above +400.0pts. With more gains, they ended up above +600.0pts less than two weeks later.

Over the next few weeks, the EX Furinkazan remained relatively stagnant as they remained in a fight with the Konami Mahjong Fight Club for 1st place. With some more 1sts by Nagai, the team managed to keep 1st place by the midpoint with +532.5pts.

Next Steps

This has been quite the start of the EX Furinkazan. Especially with their negative result last season, they must be happy with where they are going now. In fact, they already have more 1sts than they did all last season.

Nagai has been making quite an unexpected and impressive first impression on the league. He’s at the top of the rankings and has the most 1sts in the league at 9. At the rate that he’s going, he will easily beat the current M-Legue record of 13 wins in a single season. However, he can’t get cocky. It is his first season and will be his first time playing this length of time with this many games with this much pressure. He has to gain some of that experience as well as learning from his teammates.

Speaking of teammates, newcomer Uchikawa isn’t doing too badly himself. After two seasons of negative results with the Kadokawa Sakura Knights, Uchikawa is currently in a healthy positive position. With both him and Nagai leading the charge, they can make quite the impact.

At the other end, normally powerhouse Katsumata has really been struggling, having only a single 1st place. However, if things seem to be struggling for the rest of the team, I think he will get the motivation and use his extensive expetise to get the team back on the right track.

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2nd: Konami Mahjong Fight Club (+497.3pts)

Record: 19-18-12-13, +497.3pts

In the previous season, the Konami Mahjong Fight Club qualified for the post-season for the seventh season in a row. They were quite close and were in qualifying position after they played 16 games in the semifinals, but getting two 4ths on their second-last day of the semifinals caused them to drop down to 5th place, just missing out on the finals. Despite this miss, the team rapport is still strong and the team decided to keep their roster for the fifth year in a row.

The start of the season did not go very well of the team. It was miss after miss after miss. By the end of the first three weeks, they were all the way at the bottom of the standings and was the only team without a 1st place.

In such dire straights, the team needed to make a reversal. And boy, did they ever. In their first five games of Week 4, they had three 1sts in a row followed by two 2nds. And though they had another 4th place right after, they still ended up with a +197.8pts gain (which still remains as the best single week by any team so far this season). With their efforts, they rocketed up from last place and in the negatives to 6th place and in the positives.

With this jumpstart, the team continued to make gains from that week onward. On Week 6, they had a triple-digit gain. At the start of Week 7, on the 69th game of the season, the team had a nice 1st place to push them all the way up to 1st place in the standings. Though the EX Furinkazan remained competitive and took back 1st place, the Konami Mahjong Fight Club remained hot on their tail. With the two teams swapping 1st and 2nd, the team ended up finishing in 2nd place by the midseason with a score of +497.3pts.

Next Steps

This has been quite a start to the season, though it’s not really been a surprise. Save for the 2020-21 seaosn, the Konami Mahjong Fight Club has always finished the regular season in 1st place.

What’s been different this season, though, is the fact that all the players are positive, the only team in the league right now where this is the case. Perhaps it’s the leadership of the new team coach Takizawa Kazunori. Whatever they’re doing, they should keep it up.

One of the advantages of a balanced team is that there’s no overreliance on a single player, allowing everyone to rest well between games. If they can utilize this well, they will have success and can continue to climb up in the rankings.

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3rd: Beast X (+284.5pts)

Record: 19-13-15-15, +284.5pts

In their inaugural season back in 2023-24, they started out with a lot of hope. Unfortunately, it didn’t pan out and they missed out on a playoff spot at 7th place with -378.7pts. With one strike to their name, they needed to make the playoffs or else have to change their roster. Their drive was there, but they ended up much worse last season, ending up at the very bottom with -1143.6pts, the second-worst score in M-League history.

Being forced to chance, the team dropped team captain Sarukawa Masatoshi and draft audition winner Sugawara Hiroe. Holding another draft audition, NPM’s Shimoishi Geki won to take his seat at the Beast X table. For their second spot, they chose former Sega Sammy Phoenix player Tojo Rio, the first player to be redrafted after taking a leave from M-League.

The team played in the very first game of the season and started with a 4th place. Though this would be a rough start for the team, a 52,700 1st place by Daisuke would actually help the team get back into the positives by the end of the week.

This pattern would go on for quite a while. The team would go into the negatives for a bit, then have a 1st place spike to get them back up to 1st place. Even as they got a double 4th place near the end of October, they had a double 1st before the end of the month to put them right back into the positives. With that double 1st place, they were the top performers of Week 7.

November was quite volatie. One week, they would be the best performers and up triple-digits. The next week, they would be down triple-digits. On Weeks 8 and 10, they were the best performers, while on Weeks 9 and 11, they were the worst performers. Despite this flip-flop, they still ended November net positive and were comfortably in 3rd place.

The start of December was a small decline for the team and brought them just barely in the negatives with -0.9pts. With the rest of the teams below them chomping at the bit, they started to return to some big gains. And though they very briefly dropped to 4th place, their efforts have helped the team get to +284.9pts, the team’s best score ever.

Next Steps

For the Beast X, they are no longer the new team on the block. Nakada and Daisuke are playing in their third season, and Tojo is actually the senior having played with Sega Sammy Phoenix for three years and leads the team as the captain . And though Shimoishi is new, he has been a pro the longest and brings that expertise with him.

Under Shimoishi’s training, Nakada has show quite the improvement. She used to regularly be at the bottom of the standings and only got a total of three 1sts in her first two seasons. She already has five 1sts this season and is in the positives and in the top 10. With the new energy she brings (both in terms of her own and the fans), and the new training she’s done, I think that she can excel. Of course, Shimoishi and Tojo have both been positive as well. With their seniority and expertise, the team will continue to do well.

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4th: Akasaka Drivens (+45.3pts)

Record: 14-15-17-12, +45.3pts

The Akasaka Drivens had an amazing regular season last season. They were the first team to break +1000.0pts, then breaking +1100.0pts. By the end, they finish with +1115.5pts, more than +200.0pts more than the old record set by the Pirates in 2023-24. In the semifinals, they continued to gain points, though their points were halved becuase of the format. Unfortunately, the finals were not kind to them and the Sega Sammy Phoenix’s incredible rise and the competive U-Next Pirates caused them to finish in a surprising 3rd place, a far cry from the expected 1st place after the regular season. Despite this disappointing result, the team still hit amazing records and they decided to keep their roster together.

In the very first game, Sonoda was sent out and managed to win, just like how he did with the very first game in the very first M-League season. From there, the team hovered around +50.0pts and +100.0pts. When they lost points, they ended up gaining it. When they gained it, they ended up losing it.

On Week 6, they finally had a big gain. On October 23, Futoshi and Sonoda got a daily double for the team. With two 2nds a day later, the team managed to push themelves into 1st place in the overall standings, returning to where they were at the start of the season. Their results also made them the best performers of the week.

Unfortunately, this didn’t last for long. After reaching a peak of +283.1pts, the tem started to fall. On November 6, Asami ended up with a painful -13,300 4th place, her worst result ever. This was followed by a 4th place by Futoshi, who was passed in the very last hand. And though they recovered a small amount, they ended up with more 4ths and ended up in the negatives in the 9th week.

After a few weeks of stagnating, some positive results in Week 13 helped boost the team back into the positives, getting to the midseason in 4th place with +45.3pts.

Next Steps

Both Futoshi and Asami have carried the momentum of the previous season. Even as both players had some painful 4ths, they are still able to make good gains and positive results. Especially with three-time Tenhoui Futoshi having gotten positive results in every singe season he’s played, he is sure to be reliable.

The one outlier here is Taro. Taro remains the only player to not have a 1st place and his best result is just 26,900. It is a bit strange for him, especially after being positive in 4 of his past 5 seasons, But sometimes players have these frustrating streak. He has to make sure that this frustration doesn’t get the better of him. And conce that first 1st place comes, I’m sure that he will get back to his usual self.

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5th: Shibuya Abemas (-133.4pts)

Record: 15-17-14-16, -133.4pts

Last season, the Shibuya Abemas just barely made the semifinals, taking 6th place. Though they wanted to return to the finals after a season away, they struggled greatly. In their 20 games, they only had a single 1st place and eight 4ths. Dropping -522.5pts in the semifinals, there was no chance that they would make it. Despite this, they still remain one of the most successful teams in M-League. As such, they kept their team together and remain the only team who has never dropped a player (aside from the new Earth Jets).

They started out their season with a 4th place but immediately recovered some of it with a 1st place. They managed to just barely make the positives, but it wasn’t long-lived. On September 25, Hinata ended up with a big -17,900 4th place, followed by Matsumoto getting a 4th place as well. After another 4th a week later, they dropped down to 10th place in the standings.

Over the next few weeks, they made some very small gains, but stalled around -100.0pts. Small gains, small losses. Through the entire month of October, they weren’t able to move into the positives. Despite this, they were still able to move up to 6th place overall.

The start of November is where things start to get good for the team. In their first three game days of the month, they got t least one 1st place, including a daily double on November 11. With these positive results, the team was able to get to 3rd place and +132.7pts at their peak.

Unfortunately, the peak ends up being just that. Eight games in a row, the Shibuya Abemas lost points, including five 4ths. On November 25, they were back down to 9th place.

From there, they started to have some small gains and ended up at 5th place with a score of -133.4pts.

Next Steps

The Shibuya Abemas are usually quite balanced. This season, though, Hinata has only played 12 games and Ooi has already played 18 games. However, this may not necessarily be the worst thing. Currently, Hinata is struggling, so it would naturally be harder to send her out. Though, she still deserves a chance to work back to her usual 4th avoidance and gaining form.

The other player we need to look at is Matsumoto. Since last season, he has really been struggling. He has one of the lower hand win rates out of the league. With a low call rate, perhaps opening up a bit more may be the key to winnin gmore hands and eventually more vames.

Currently, the team is in 5th place. As the season gets closer to the end, they will have to keep track of the border closely. As long as they keep that in mind, they can adjust their playstyle to make the playoffs.

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6th: U-Next Pirates (-175.2pts)

Record: 15-15-14-20, -175.2pts

The U-Next Pirates went into the 2024-25 season as the defending champions. However, unlike other defending champions, they seemed to be immune to the championship curse. After a few weeks of hovering around ±0.0, the team started to move up, getting up to above +400.0pts before the end of the year. Even as they dropped after the new year, they rebounded and even went above +500.0pts. Finishing with +481.2pts, it would normally be enough to be top spot if not for the dominant Akasaka Drivens. Despite this big gap though, the U-Next Pirates remained competitive and through the semifinals, they had a huge gain and came within 100.0pts of the Drivens. With a better performance than the Akasaka Drivens in the finals, the U-Next Pirates were able to surpass them. However, the Sega Sammy Phoenix ended up doing better, leaving the U-Next Pirates in 2nd place. As the team that broke the championship curse and has had an amazing record in the past two years, the roster was kept.

On the very first day, the U-Next Pirates had a very good start. With a 2nd and a 1st, they ended the first day in 1st place overall. Over the next few weeks, they would trade spots on the podium, almost always being in the top 3.

Mixed in during these weeks are a handful of big 1sts. On September 26, Yu won 9 hands and didn’t deal in a single time, leading him to get a big 91,500 1st place, which remains the highest score by a player so far this season. Less than two weeks later, he would get a 8 wins and a single deal-in for an 86,000 win. With these big wins, Yu was able to climb his way to the top of the individual standings as well holding a strong position for the highest hanchan record.

Week 5 was a big week for the U-Next Pirates. Avoiding 4th in all six of their games and getting three 1sts (including their first daily double of the season on October 16), they were able to be the best performers of the week, getting a total of +153.3pts to put them up in 1st place overall.

However, good things don’t last. In the next three of their four weeks, they would get triple-digit losses. Yu would lose his 4th place avoidance record, Nakabayashi would fall down to 40th in the overall standings. In 16 games, they would only get two 1sts and ten 4ths, including two 4-game 4th streaks. At their lowest point, they were down to -200.4pts and in 7th place.

Things would be bumpy from there on out. Though they did manage to get some big wins, including a 79,100 1st place by Nakabayashi on November 17 and a 69,300 1st place by Mizuhara on December 8, they still struggled to move net upwards. By the midseason, they were only at 6th place with -175.2pts.

Next Steps

This has been quite a strange season so far for the U-Next Pirates. They are usually really good at avoiding 4th place, but just about a third of their games have been 4ths. They do have their usual high win rate, but their deal-in rate is one of the highest in the league and has one of the highest deal-in values. Perhaps they may be a bit more aggressive than usual, resulting in big wins but also reckless losses. If they can restore themselves to their usual balance, they can make more sustainable gains.

Currently they are exactly in 6th place and just have a 0.1pts lead over 7th place. Though this would be satisfactory at the end of the regular season for a playoff spot, we’re only at the midway point. This makes them a heavy target. They will need to keep an eye out for their opponents to maintain the playoff spot.

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7th: Sega Sammy Phoenix (-175.3pts)

Record: 15-13-13-19, -175.3pts

At the end of the 2023-24 season, the Sega Sammy Phoenix finished in 9th place with their worst result yet. Having had a similar result last season, the team thought that they needed to make a change. They dropped JPML players Uotani Yuumi and Tojo Rio and replaced them with Saikouisen’s Takeuchi Genta and NPM’s Asai Takaki. This change ended in roster also ended up being a change in their results. In the regular season, they ended up in 3rd place, their best result since the 2019-20 season. In the semifinals, they were extremely competitive and avoided 4th place in all 20 of their games. This momentum continued in the finals and the team ended up winning their first championship in the team’s history. With this championship under their belt, they decided to continue with this crew to aim for a second one.

Things did not go well for the team from the get-go. From their very first day, they were hit with a double 4th, then a double 4th on their next day. Four straight 4ths is not how you want to start a season. After 9 games, they already had seven 4ths and were down in 10th place at -273.9pts, more than 100pts from the next team.

In their third week, they had a small recovery. In three of their games, they got a 1st place. And though they had a rough 3rd place and a 4th that week, they had a reasonable gain and got themselves their first positive week. A few days later, they woudl get another 1st place to bring them up to -93.3pts.

Then comes 11 straight days without a 1st place. The work that they did was all gone. In a 22 game span, then ended up with only a single 1st place. They dropped lower and lower and lower. Even as Takaki got a suuankou on October 31, he still ended the game in 2nd place. At their lowest, they were at -519.9pts and were more than double the next team’s score.

But, the Sega Sammy Phoenix always has a way to surprise us. Over their next five game days, they managed to get a 1st place in every single one of them, including two daily doubles. After a 65,000 1st place by Kayamori on November 25, they were up to 5th place in the standings.

From there, the team stalled a bit and ends up in 7th place at the midpoint with -175.3pts, just 0.1pts shy from 6th.

Next Steps

Looks like the championship curse is back. They did so well last season and they can’t seem to get their footing now. Even though they have the lowest deal-in rate, they also have quite a low win rate and one of the lower win values. A bit more aggression could benefit them with more value.

One of the things that we have to keep in mind is Takaki’s condition after being afflicted with a cerebrovascular disease. We don’t know how long it will take him to recover. Though of course we want him to get back as soon as possible, it will also mean that he will probably be playing fewer games than usual once he is back. That means that Kayamori, Daigo and Genta will have to pick up the slack.

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8th: Team Raiden (-176.7pts)

Record: 14-12-20-14, -176.7pts

Going into the 2024-25 season, Team Raiden has never had a positive season. However, all that was going to change. From the very start, the team remained close to ±0.0pts, quite an improvement from previous seasons. In the final weeks of the regular season, they kept winning and winning and winning. By their second-last day, they were above +400.0pts, their highest score in the team’s history. Finishing the regular season in 4th place with +330.3pts, they qualified for the semifinals. They didn’t do as well in the semifinals, but they managed to qualify for the finals for the second time in team history. They stayed quite stagnant and ended up finishing the finals in 4th place. The result for the team is promising, so they kept their four players together to give it another go.

In their very first game, Hagiwara led the team with a 1st place. With their first five day of the season, they had at least a 1st place in four of them. With their gains, they move up to the top three. From there, they stagnated, moving between 2nd and 4th in the standings.

On October 24, they finally had their first daily double of the season, thanks to the work of Honda and Kurosawa. With the gains, they reached a peak of +188.3pts.

Then the big losses kept coming. In their next 12 games, they had six 4ths, including a double 4th in one day. The big losses ended up making them the biggest loser in Week 7 and bringing them down to -238.5pt and eventually down to 9th place.

At the end of Week 9 and into the next two weeks, the gains started to come. Over their next five games, they had four 1sts and avoided 4th place the whole time. With these gains, they moved up to the top 5.

Towards the midseason, they stalled. Though in their past three games, they have had losses, putting them down to 8th place with a score of -176.7pts.

Next Steps

Team Raiden has the lowest win rate and around the middle in terms of deal-in rate. Fundamental to winning games is winning hands, so upping their win rate is crucial. Even if their deal-in rate remains the same or even just slightly higher, it will result in more games won and fewer 3rds.

One of the strange things that has happened this season is Kurosawa’s extraordinary increase in call rate. The usually low-calling Kurosawa has increased her call rate to about 15%. Though she is still one of the lowest, it’s already clear that it is affecting her gameplay a bit. If she can settle herself to something she is comfortable (whether it be returning to her low-call style or being comfortable with the calling), she will gt back into positive position.

As for the rest of the team, nobody is doing particularly badly. Even the normally negative Hagiwara is only down -4.8pts. With the scores so close, they just need a good 1st place and they can get up into the positives.

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9th: Earth Jets (-269.8pts)

Record: 12-19-15-16, -269.8pts

Soon after the end of the 2024-25 season, it was announced that there would be a new team coming onto the scene, the 10 M-League team. Sponsored by Earth Pharmaceuticals, the new team brought a lot of excitement to the league during the offseason. The Earth Jets revealed their team name, social media and logo and the excitement continued with the drafting of Ishii Kazuma, Aikawa Megumu, Hiro Shibata and Miura Tomohiro.

With a 3rd and a 4th place to start their M-League career, the Earth Jets ended the first day at the bottom of the standings. However, the team finally got a 1st with Kazuma leading the charge on October 25. The next day, Aikawa got her first 1st and got the team as close to the positives.

But, that’s as far as they would get. Over the next 12 games, they would fail to get a 1st. Even as they got a 1st place, they would get some 4ths soon after. At their lowest, they were down at -410.3pts and about 100.0pts from 9th.

From their lowest point, they started to make some slow gains. From Weeks 7 to 9, they had positive gains and moved back to around -200.0pts. Similar to other teams, they stalled going towards the midseason and ended up at -269.8pts in 9th place.

Next Steps

Like the Beast in their first season, the Earth Jets are the really struggling with their first season. Their lack of M-League experience means that their struggle is kind of expected.

However, one player is breaking expectations: Ishii Kazuma. With seven 1sts, he only trails the other newcomer Nagai in the number of 1sts. Of course, M-Leaue is a team sport. If all the players can share their knowledge and experience to improve their sense of M-League, as well as Kazuma helping the others improve their skills, they can move up in the rankings together.

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10th: Kadokawa Sakura Knights (-429.2pts)

Record: 10-12-20-16, -429.2pts

The Kadokawa Sakura Knights came into the 2024-25 season as the 3rd place team in the finals, getting them a little prize money. They wanted to get their second championship, but it wasn’t meant to be. They were positive in the first few weeks, but they slowly and slowly dropped and dropped and dropped. Going into the final days, they were only a few points above -600.0pts. They tried their best to fight with the final days, but it wasn’t quite enough, finishing in 7th place with -413.9pts, the first time in the team’s history where they failed to make the playoffs. Wanting a change, the team dropped Uchikawa Kotaro and replaced him with JPML’s Akutsu Shota, the youngest player in M-League.

Things started out with on a good note with a 1st place by newcomer Akutsu followed by a 2nd place by Okada, pushing them to 1st place on the league’s second day. On their next game day, a 1st place Shibukawa pushed the team to +131.6pts.

Unfortunately, that’s as far as as they would go. Quickly, the team got a 4th place in each of their next three game days, plushing them to exactly -100.0pts. Though they would recover some of it in the following week, they would drop back down again. Slowly and steadily, the team dropped, moving them back below -100.0pts.

The biggest dropped happened on November 21, when Shibukawa and Akutsu got a 4th place to give the team a -122.3pts drop. Two weeks later, another double 4th caused them to go down by -118.3pts, moving them down to -491.6pts.

They would end up recovering some of that recently with two 1sts (their first consecutive 1sts of the season), by they only get to -429.2pts and remain in 10th place.

Next Steps

The Kadokawa Sakura Knights have a lower win rate (though have some of the highest win values) and a very high deal-in rate at around 14%. This combination spells the perfect combination to lose.

Newcomer Akutsu Shota is struggling to win games. He has by far the highest loss rate with a deal-in rate of more than 18%. Though, he also has one of the highest riichi rates and a mediocre riichi success rate. That means that some of it is because of luck. As long as this bad luck doesn’t stay for too long, Akutsu will naturally move upwards.

For the rest of the team, Shibukawa continues to be reliable. For Okada, she struggles to get 1sts, but she also avoids 4th pretty well. She is okay for keeping team stability. And for Hori, a slight leaning in the negatives means that he can rest a little bit.

The midway point is here, and they will need to work hard to get up to at least 6th place.