M-League 2021 Week 10: Hidden Treasure

Underneath the only face-up tile in the wall is a hidden treasure. To unlock this treasure, a player must call riichi and win. In the 10th week of M-League 2021, many players had the key and were generously rewarded. We also had a lot of baiman wins, haneman wins and some unexpected South 4 business. With all that, let’s get right into it!

Intro | Highlights | Results | Standings

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M-League 2021 Week 9: Expensive

Speed and value are two aspects of mahjong. Though a player may win a dozen quick and cheap hands, just one expensive hand can undo all that work. In the 9th week of M-League 2021, fans were treated to many expensive hands. 4 baimans, multiple hanemans and even a sanbaiman, players raked in the points this week. We even got close to seeing a record-breaking performance! There’s a lot to get into, let’s get right into it, shall we?

Intro | Highlights | Results | Standings

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M-League 2021 Week 8: Unexpected

Mahjong is a game full of numbers and statistics. But sometimes players can beat the odds and come out on top. In the 8th week of M-League 2021, unexpected moments were on full display. From a houtei to a haitei, from a rinshan to a South 4 dealer spree, players who you thought were never going to win end up surprising us. With all that, let’s get right into it, shall we?

Intro | Highlights | Results | Standings

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How to Harness the Power of Flow

Flow (流れ, nagare) is said to be “the term used in professional riichi mahjong to quantify the metaphysical ability of spiritually attuned players to pull in good tiles”. Believers think that calling kan is the only sure way to gain flow. Non-believers say that it’s just an occult belief. Today, we will be looking at the evidence of flow in M-League and how the top players gain it and use it to their advantage.

Flowing Hair

Hair would probably be the last thing anyone would think of when talking about mahjong and flow. However, proper hair allows you to keep your composure and can prevent the flow from escaping.

Matsugase Takaya of the EX Furinkazan uses this well. Stylishly sporting a new hairstyle every time he comes on, he uses the power of flowing hair to channel his inner anime character and beat everyone at the table.

Matsugase was able to become an M-Leaguer by winning a suuankou in the EX Furinkazan Member Audition finals and eventually winning the whole thing.

At the time of writing, Matsugase is 3rd in the individual standings with a score of +188.5 and a record of 4/1/2/1.

The Transfer of Flow

As the law of conservation of energy states, “Energy can neither be created nor destroyed”. One of the ways to take advantage of this flow is to transfer the flow from a player who isn’t playing to one who is.

Katsumata Kenji of the EX Furinkazan is a master of the art. Before every game, he gets slapped in the back. By getting slapped, the energy from a resting player gets added onto his own power to give him good results.

At the time of writing, Katsumata Kenji is in 2nd place in the individual standings with a score of +224.7. He also had a 4-game winning streak earlier this season.

Note that there must be a physical transfer of power. When Murakami tried to harness power from Maruyama, who had just gotten a 1st place, by praying, he instead was greeted with his 4th loss in a row.

The Flow of Water

The strength of water can be seen all around us. From heavy floods to the formation of the Grand Canyon, some will say that water is one of the strongest things of nature. Logically, we look to water for flow.

Konami Mahjong Fight Club’s Date Arisa has this down to a science. At the end of each game, she takes a drink, making it clear that hydration is very important to her winning ways. Even non-mahjong scientists agree that being well-hydrated improves sleep quality, cognition and mood.

At the time of writing, Date is 1st place with the highest total score (+277.5), highest hanchan score (105,500, which is also the highest hanchan score of all time) and a 100% last place avoidance rate.

Conclusion

Flow is real. FLOW is the First Law Of Winning. Without flow, we have no chance of winning. By following the lead of these successful M-Leaguers, you can be sure to get good results in all your future games!

M-League 2021 Week 7: Legendary

Have you ever watched a mahjong game that changed your perspective on mahjong forever? Have you ever seen a play that you thought was impossible come true? In the 7th week of M-League 2021, some legendary mahjong took place. From the perfect draw to a record-breaking game, from high honba counts to high hopes, this week was a week to remember. I don’t want to spoil too much, so let’s get right to it, shall we?

Intro | Highlights | Results | Standings

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M-League 2021 Week 6: Multiplication

Winning one hand can bring your score up a bit. Winning multiple hands can multiply your score and put you out of reach of your opponents. In the 6th week of M-League 2021, multiplication was all around. From multiple hands won to double a player’s starting score to multiple uradora multiplying the value of the hand, it was a high-scoring affair. We also had a big losing streak broken, a new streak started and a big dora hand, it was truly a great week. With all that, let’s get right to it, shall we?

Intro | Highlights | Results | Standings

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M-League 2021 Week 5: Challenge Accepted

Riichi mahjong is a challenging game. What separates good and great players is their ability to take on and push through these challenges. In the 5th week of M-League 2021, we saw many players accepting the challenges set before them. From a direct challenge by the EX Furinkazan to the Konami Mahjong Fight Club, to chasing riichi calls in South 4, each challenge and the overcoming of these challenges were on full display.

Also this week, he had some amazing chiitoi wins, some incredible dealer turns and some incredible discard reading. With so much to get into, let’s get right into it, shall we?

Intro | Highlights | Results | Standings

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EX Furinkazan Issues Challenge to Konami Mahjong Fight Club

On the eve of their next battle, EX Furinkazan, via their Twitter account, issued a challenge to Konami Mahjong Fight Club.

Roughly translated it reads:
“By chance,
yesterday,

in the waiting room
while considering our strategy

suddenly,
we thought,
everyone is expecting Rumi and Aki!

So we asked
their thoughts

and they were
raring to go

Will we
be able to have
a head on fight?”

However, if one were to read the tweet vertically, taking only the first character from each line, a different message becomes apparent.

“Shall we have a match between TakiHisa and RumiAki?”

TakiHisa referring to Takizawa Kazunori, and Hisa referring to Sasaki Hisato, both Konami players. On top of that the “TakiHisa” combination is actually common nickname used to refer to the pair who are quite close friends even outside of M-League and regularly get up to hijinks. RumiAki is a bit easier to decipher, referring to the Nikaido sisters from EX Furinkazan.

The Response

Konami, not ones to take this lying down, responded in kind, with their own tweet.

The message read horizontally reads:

“In such a short time we have,
received many proposals from many families
Surely we are blessed.
They are strong opponents.
We would like to go against them, truly
Give us some time to think about it.”

However, as expected, when read vertically, we get a different message.

“We will crush the opposition!”

A Pirate wades into the fray

Not wanting to be left out of the fun, Ishibashi from U-Next Pirates, decided to join in the fun… sort of.

Not wanting to bother with the fancy poetic message to hide the true meaning, he just responds with a vertical message.

“Come at me, TakiHisa and RumiAki!”

Will these battles play out tomorrow when the teams meet? We’ll have to wait and see, but from some of the replies, it does seem to be a popular setup, with many people wanting to see it happen.

This isn’t even the first time EX Furinkazan and Konami have exchanged challenges in this way. During last season, the teams attempted to match up Takizawa (who was playing for EX Furinkazan at the time) and Sasaki in a match, early in the new year.

At that time, both teams did field their respective players, however, both had a hard time dealing with the Akasaka Drivens supremacy on the day.

How will things play out this time? Will we see TakiHisa or RumiAki triumph? Will Ishibashi take all the glory? Or will Team Raiden’s members play spoiler and run away with everything? Tune in tomorrow to find out!

Addendum

As I was writing this, the official M-League twitter account tweeted out an expectant image for tomorrow, with the message:
“It looks like we might see RumiAki and TakiHisa! I’m looking forward to it!”

So we might actually see these matchups happen!

Unlucky Morpheus Changes Its Name to Unlucky Murakami

The band “Unlucky Morpheus” has decided to keep up with the times and change its name to “Unlucky Murakami”

The band, known to M-League fans for their M-League inspired songs Top of the ‘M’ and ‘M’ Revolution, made the announcement on Tuesday, a day after Murakami Jun registered his 4th last place in a row.

At the time of writing, the 2nd round pick for the Akasaka Drivens had a record of 0/0/1/4 and a score of -316.0, almost 200 points less than the next player. Murakami hadn’t won any of his last 39 hands, dealt in with 13 of them and he went into the negatives in all 4 of his lasts.

When we contacted the band about the name change, Shiren (the artist who wrote the lyrics of the two songs) sent us this:

To lose 1 or 2 games can mean that you are a bit unlucky. To lose 4 games in a row means that you have truly angered the mahjong gods.

Take a look at it this way: Morpheus (whoever that is) probably has never played mahjong and currently holds a score of ±0.0. Murakami has played 5 games and has a score of -316.0. In order to preserve the accuracy of our band name, we decided it was appropriate to change it.

Shiren also added, “Our song ‘Top of the M’ now has new meaning. The ‘M’ now stands for ‘Murakami’ and is indicative of how all players are now above him in the standings.”

In other news, Cy the Rhino and Murakami are bonding well and Cy is now providing Murakami with emotional support.

M-League 2021 Week 4: Streaks

Momentum, whether positive or negative, is a strong force. In sports and mahjong, momentum gives rise to streaks. In the 4th week for M-League 2021, we had streaks continue and new streaks created. From a positive Konami streak to a negative Drivens streak, from a continued yakuman tenpai streak to players going on winning streaks, it was certainly a great week to watch. With all that, let’s get right into it, shall we?

Intro | Highlights | Results | Standings

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