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Over the past month and a bit, there has been a lot of action happenning in the world of M-League. Today, I’ll be going through all of it, from the draft to the off-season tournaments.
On June 28, 2024, the Sega Sammy Phoenix drafted Saikouisen player Takeuchi Genta and Nihon Pro Mahjong (NPM) player Asai Takaki during the M-League 2024-25 Draft.
Professional organization: Saikouisen
Pro League: A1
Titles: 47th・48th Saikoui, 22nd BIG1CUP
The current back-to-back winner of the Saikouisen league, Takeuchi Genta is the top pro in the Saikouisen organization. He is a familiar face to M-League fans, being a commentator twice (February 2, 2023 and February 6, 2024), two-time M-Tournament player and one of the finalists in the Beast Japanext Draft Audition.
Immediately, Takeuchi put out a celebratory Tweet with a lot of exclamation marks.
指名いただきました！！！！
— 竹内元太 (@takeuchigenta) June 28, 2024
頑張ります！ https://t.co/qoiSAD1Mi7
On June 28, 2024 at 22:30 JST, Takeuchi will be doing a livestream on his YouTube Channel reacting to himself being drafted.
Professional organization: Nihon Pro Mahjong (NPM)
Pro League: A1
Titles: 21st Mahjong King, 7th Champions Road
The previous NPM league title holder before Nakabayashi Kei, Asai Takaki is another top player in his organization.
Like Takeuchi, Asai has also made a few appearances in M-League events. He helped out with commentary on February 21, 2023, was a player in both M-Tournaments and was also a finalist in the Beast Japanext Draft Audition.
Streaming during the draft, fans got to see Asai reactions of joy and disbelief as his name was called.
Congratulations to our two newest M-Leaguers! How will they fare against the M-League veterans? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see!
The M-League 2024-25 Draft has been announced and will be coming in just a few days! Today, we’ll take a look at everything you need to know about the upcoming draft and check out some potential draft picks.
On Friday, June 28, starting at 19:00 JST, the M-League 2024-25 Draft will be broadcasted on the official M-League YouTube channel and will last around 30 to 40 minutes. At the time of writing, the livestreamed is geoblocked, so fans outside of Japan will require a VPN to watch it.
With the dropping of Uotani Yuumi and Tojo Rio being the only roster change during the offseason, the Sega Sammy Phoenix will be the only team to draft this time around. They will have to pick two players to fill in their empty spots.
Drafting teams have the option to draft from any of the five supporting professional mahjong organizations:
Note: M-League Watch predictions to follow. Teams are not limited to the players listed below, nor are they guarantees of any player being drafted.
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This draft, the Sega Sammy Phoenix have two spots to fill.
With Saikouisen signing a sponsorship contract with Sega MJ, it is heavily favoured that the Sega Sammy Phoenix will be signing players from Saikouisen. The favourites would be current and former title holders in the league:
They also have the option to draft former M-Leaguers who already well-known and have a strong following:
If the team wishes to keep their female-majority composition, they may choose also choose other top female players from Saikouisen:
And that’s all you need to know about the upcoming draft! Who will be drafted? WIll they be newcomers or familiar faces? How will they and M-League fans react? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see!
On June 10, 2024, the Sega Sammy Phoenix announced on their Twitter and through their news releases that they will be renewing the contracts for Kayamori Sayaka, Daigo Hiroshi and manager Kondo Seiichi, but they will not be renewing the contracts for Uotani Yuumi and Tojo Rio.
【セガサミーフェニックス 魚谷侑未選手契約満了のご報告】
— セガサミーフェニックス🦅🔥 (@SEGASAMMY_PNX) June 10, 2024
この度、セガサミーフェニックスにおきまして、#魚谷侑未 選手との契約満了に伴い、Mリーグ2024-25シーズンの契約を更新しないことが決まりましたので、ご報告させていただきます。
コメント詳細https://t.co/kmskl5rd4W… pic.twitter.com/G59qbfzXVO
【セガサミーフェニックス 東城りお選手契約満了のご報告】
— セガサミーフェニックス🦅🔥 (@SEGASAMMY_PNX) June 10, 2024
この度、セガサミーフェニックスにおきまして、#東城りお 選手との契約満了に伴い、Mリーグ2024-25シーズンの契約を更新しないことが決まりましたので、ご報告させていただきます。
コメント詳細https://t.co/UhWhe4FSz0… pic.twitter.com/5HBMQuNPg6
The news caused so much traffic to the Sega Sammy website that their servers crashed.
Uotani Yuumi was the 1st round pick for the Sega Sammy Phoenix back in the inaugural 2018-19 M-League season, making her the first member of the team and team captain. In the 2019-20 season, she won two yakumans in the span of less than a week, won the Highest Hanchan award with a score of 94,400, and was the league MVP with a regular season total of +451.4pts. With her two individual awards that year, she is the only player in M-League history to win two individual awards in a single season.
As the team captain, she led the team to the finals in the 2019-20 and 2021-22 seasons, helping the team finish in 2nd in both years.
Unfortunately, Uotani had been unable to finish in the positives for the past 4 seasons and the team wasn’t able to make the finals in the past three.
With Uotani’s departure, she is the first team captain to be dropped from a team.
In the official news release, Uotani said that she is grateful for the support from management and the company, and is also grateful for all the fans that supported her. She also said that she will use the experiences from the past six years as a stepping stone towards a new path. Uotani also published a note where she says that she will be increasing her study time so she can get even stronger.
Shortly after the announcement, Uotani created a new YouTube channel where she will post new videos and live broadcasts, including an upcoming video about her current feelings on the situation.
Tojo Rio was drafted by the Sega Sammy Phoenix in the 2021-22 season, joining her fellow JPML member and YouTube partner Uotani Yuumi on the team. In her first season, she was able to get positive results in every phase of the season, had the 4th highest scoring game in the league and helped the team finish 2nd place overall. In the 2022-23 season, she was the team’s top player.
This past year, though, she finished in 34th out of 36 players with a score of -214.4.
In the official news release, Tojo says that her only regret was not being able to get the team a championship win. In a Tweet, Tojo says that she will be looking forward to what awaits her in the future.
セガサミーフェニックスの
— 東城りお (@RioTojyo) June 10, 2024
サポーター、スタッフの皆さま
３年間沢山のご支援ありがとうございました！
暗いのは苦手なので
今の気持ちをジャンプに例えると、
読者投票2年連続最下位だったけど
単行本の売れ行きはまあまあ良くて
ここからテコ入れして
ストーリー展開して
色々な設定増やして… https://t.co/UAqru7KST7
M-League Watch would like to thank both Uotani and Tojo for their service in M-League and wish them well in their future mahjong pursuits.
Only a week after the end of the regular season and already so much to go through! Today, I will be covering everything from contracts to documentaries to upcoming tournaments!
Continue reading “M-League 2024-25 Preseason: Late May Update”
This is it. The final day of the M-League 2023-24 Finals. At the end of Games #15-16, our champion will be crowned. Soon afterwards, that team will have the chance to lift the plate at the awards ceremony in front of hundreds of live fans, millions of fans watching online. For the last time this season, let’s get right into it, shall we?
For this final day of M-League action, we had the classic duo of Hiyoshi Tatsuya and Tsuchida Kousho in the commentating booth.
When their introductions were finished, we were shown the excited public viewing audience watching at the Bellesalle Shiodome less than 2 kilometres away from the M-League Studio. After that, we watched the final digest then looked at the standings.
The U-Next Pirates hold a commanding lead over the 2nd place Akasaka Drivens. In order to for them to be beat, the other teams need to have some record-breaking performances. Twice.
For the 2nd place Akasaka Drivens, they also have a good lead over the other two. They will be paid well if they can maintain the position.
Between the 3rd place Kadokawa Sakura Knights and 4th place EX Furinkazan, today will be the day that decides if they get any prize money. One wrong move and they will leave empty-handed.
Intro | Game #15 | Game #16
Awards Ceremony | Final Thoughts
On the second-last day of the M-League 2023-24 Finals, in Games #13-14, sights were set. Sights were set on winning the hand, winning the game, winning the championship. We even had one hand where sights were set on yakuman! Let’s set our sights on learning more and get right into it, shall we?
Commentating for this final Thursday is Hiyoshi Tatsuya. Helping him out is former Akasaka Drivens member Murakami Jun (村上淳).
After a review of yesterday’s action, we went to the standings.
The U-Next Pirates hold a large lead over the rest of the competition and time is running out. 2nd place, on the other hand, is easily within reach of the bottom three teams. A single win or loss can be the difference between millions of yen in prize money.
Closed hands lead to riichi calls. Riichi calls lead to uradora. These uradora lead to surprise comebacks and multiplying scores. In Games #11-12 of the M-League 2023-24 Finals, these surprise uradora were the difference between winning and losing. Let’s uncover the action of today’s game and get right into it, shall we?
Commentating for the final time this season is Matsushima Momo. Next to her doing the colour commentary is Saikouisen pro Kouno Naoya.
After taking another look at the Lawson photos, the FRGMT shirts and yesterday’s highlights, we took a gander at the standings.
After the U-Next Pirates’ daily double yesterday, they are almost 300.0pts ahead of the 2nd place EX Furinkazan. For the bottom three ranks, they are only separated by 72.6pts. A good win can put a team into 2nd place.
Risk is necessary in mahjong. However, this risk must be calculated. If calculated well, one will be rewarded well. In Games #9-10 of the M-League 2023-24 Finals, these calculated risks let players win hands, avoid deal-ins and even push against a possible yakuman! I won’t risk boring you, so let’s get right into it, shall we?
Commentating for the final time this season on this final Monday of the season is Kobayashi Misa. Doing the colour commentary is former U-Next Pirates player Asakura Koushin (朝倉康心).
After showing the Lawson photo prints that were introduced last week, we were shown more goods.
From May 13 to June 12 only, M-League will be collaborating with fashion company FRGMT. During the collab, M-League will be selling two different t-shirt designs that are only available on the online ABEMA Mart.
We then took a look at the highlights on Friday, followed by the standings going into today.
The teams are fairly close to where they started the finals at, with the exception of the Kadokawa Sakura Knights gaining 85.3pts. Still in the lead are the U-Next Pirates, though the EX Furinkazan and within a 1st away.
With the completion of Games #7-8 of the M-League 2023-24 Final Series, we are halfway through the finals! With each game, each choice chosen can be the difference between winning the plate and leaving empty-handed. These important decisions lead to some of the most intense moments in M-League history. With incredible surprises awaiting to be uncovered, let’s get right into it, shall we?
To end off the week, our commentators are Kobayashi Misa and former member of the U-Next Pirates Ishibashi Nobuhiro (石橋伸洋).
After their introductions, the two of them featured some new M-League goods available at Lawson Print stores. Along with the photos, fans can also purchase postcards, M-League photo frames and even an art canvas!
After the break, we took a look at the standings.
The Kadokawa Sakura Knights have passed the EX Furinkazan and are just one good day away from 1st place. The Drivens are also improving, being a 1st away from returning to the positives.
M-League Watch