M-League Watch

In mahjong, everyone strives for greatness. From small wins to contributions to the community, everyone builds their legacy. And with enough skill and time and effort, and through the lives they’ve touched, a small handful of people will be called one of the greats.

This week, we learned about the loss of one of these greats. This loss caused pain to many in the mahjong community. And through the pain, players played in memory of this person, honoured their legacy and recounted memories that they held dear.

Maehara Yudai (1956- 2025)

On October 12, 2025, former M-Leaguer Maehara Yudai passed away at the age of 68. Maehara was a member of the Konami Mahjong Fight Club from the 2018-19 season to the 2020-21 season. He was an integral part of the start of M-League and the Konami Mahjong Fight Club. He was most famous for exemplifying the team’s signature pose, even doing it at the table after winning a game.

月曜日の第一試合の対局が始まる直前の前室で前原さんが亡くなったことをMリーグの番組から聞かされました。（発表前だった為知っている方は試合後のインタビューでその件について触れないでくださいとのことでした）
その瞬間まで寿人さん以外は知らなかったと思います。…

— 白鳥 翔 (@s_Shochan0827) October 15, 2025

Memories and tributes started flowing in from the mahjong community, including Shiratori Sho’s Tweet about how he learned the news and how the memories with Maehara started flooding back, to Sasaki Hisato’s note about how close the two of them were and how Maehara helped shape Hisato to be the pro he is today.

Before the games on October 16, 2025, a moment of silence was held to remember Maehara.

Former teammates Sasaki Hisato and Takamiya Mari also honoured Maehara by performing his famous pose at the end of their games that day.

The M-League Watch Team would like to give to send its deepest condolences to Maehara’s family and the mahjong community and wish everyone comfort in this difficult time.

Intro | Standings

Beginnings and endings are everywhere in mahjong. Winning streaks begin and winning streaks end. Explosive starts and amazing last-hand comebacks can define a game. Tenpai at the start of hands and wins on the very last tile can create amazing moments.

In the 4th week of the M-League 2025-26 regular season, we had many of these starts and ends. From two double riichi wins and a haitei, to a team getting their first three wins of the season, to the end of a powerhouse team’s reign, this week was full of moments that kept fans glued to their screens, excited every single second.

Let’s start this article right now, shall we?

Intro | Standings

When you win a hand worth 6 or 7 han, that is called a haneman. A haneman is worth 12,000 for a non-dealer and 18,000 for the dealer. Winning a haneman puts you squarely between being unbeatable and within reach. In any case, a haneman will send a strong message to your opponents that you are not someone to be messed with.

In the third week of the M-League 2025-26 regular season, we had a lot of hanemans. We even had one game where four hanemans in a row! In addition to the hanemania, we also had a player overcoming a 54,700 deficit to win the game!

Let’s get right into it, shall we?

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Intro | Standings

For the first time in M-League history, we have two games playing at the same time. Both in the same studio, two broadcasts running simultaneously. Twice the action, twice the fun.

This week, the second week of the M-League 2025-26, we had players and teams getting their first wins and a lot of Ura 3 wins. We even had an incredible hand repeated for the second week in a row~

Don’t think twice about it! Let’s get right into it, shall we?

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Intro | Standings

After months of waiting, it’s finally here! The newest M-League season has finally begun! With a new team and new players, M-League excitement has never been greater. And the games this week did not disappoint. This week, we had three Ura 3 wins in a single game, newcomers winning in their debuts and an incredible surprise on the very first day!

There was so much action this week, so let’s just jump right into it, shall we?

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Opening Ceremony

Fans gathered at the Bellesalle Shiodome to watch the very first day of the M-League 2025-26 season. With every moment of cheering, you could feel it come alive. The MC for the night was Hayashi Misaki.

After some brief introductions, each of the teams (going in reverse standings order from last season) came into the hall and onto the stage. The team captain of each team carried a flag with the team’s logo on it.

The final team, the championship-winning Sega Sammy Phoenix, came into the hall carrying their championship plate. Once they got on stage, M-League founder and chairman Fujita Susumu joined them. Team captain Kayamori Sayaka returned the plate back to the chairman, placing it back on the pedestal to symbolically mark the start of a new season.

After a few words from each of the teams and from Fujita Susumu, everyone on stage did a big cheer and the M-League 2025-26 season was officially opened!

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Intro | Standings

On September 1, 2025 M-League revealed the uniforms that will be used for the upcoming 2025-26 season.

The M-League 2025-26 season begins on September 15, 2025.

Akasaka Drivens

The Akasaka Drivens are choosing to go a bit bolder this year, going with a more pronounced checker pattern with a brighter neon green. Within the darker patches of the checker pattern is a diagonal tartan pattern.

The Akasaka Drivens uniform remains the only one without any corporate logos (aside from the team logo and the sportswear company Mizuno [which is on all the clothing of every team]).

いよいよMリーグ2025-26シーズン到来！🦏🦏🦏🦏

昨季、レギュラーシーズンをぶっちぎりの首位で通過しながら、掴み損ねたシャーレ。
あの悔しさを越えてさらに逞しくなった選手たちが、満を持して今シーズン、大きな忘れ物を獲りにいきます！

あざやか色の糸の如くに、4つの個性が織りなす道筋… pic.twitter.com/BLYawjuhjd

— 赤坂ドリブンズ (@AkasakaDrivens) September 3, 2025

Jokingly, people have compared the design of that of a cucumber and Kamado Tanjiro from Demon Slayer

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Beast X

The Beast X have chosen to take an interesting approach to their uniform, placing the team name near the bottom of the shirt and their biggest sponsor, auPAY, in the centre where the team name would normally be.

The team maintains its camouflage design, but restricts it to the shoulds, arms and bottom of the shirt. The team name is also written in camouflage instead of the regular team logo. The rest of the shirt is white.

Earth Jets

With the Earth Jets making their M-League debut, they are also debuting their uniform. Their main design is a net-like lattice in front of a green base. In the centre is the Earth Jets logo with corporate sponsors above and below. Corporate sponsors are also found on the sleeves.

The left sleeve features a single green stripe, while the right sleeve has a single red stripe.

EX Furinkazan

The EX Furinkazan uniform has a more geometric look this season, featuring red triangles as the base background of the uniform. The sponsors on the uniforms no longer have a white background behind it. There is also a star just above the final N on the uniform, possibly to indicate that the team has won the championship once before (2020-21 season).

◯お知らせ◯

新ユニフォーム発表✨
2025-26シーズン新たなデザインで戦います🔥https://t.co/5JjUOxE7vo#Mリーグ #EX風林火山 #二階堂亜樹 #勝又健志 #永井孝典 #内川幸太郎 #麻雀 #栄冠奪取 #炎護舞隊 https://t.co/3904YqtjyU pic.twitter.com/PhXNWDn8xT

— EX風林火山 (@EX_Furinkazan) September 1, 2025

Kadokawa Sakura Knight

The Kadokawa Sakura Knights have chosen to feature blue more on their uniform, putting a stripe on the sleeves and making it their collar colour. The rest of the uniform is still mostly black except for the white sleeves and the stripes and sakura blossoms on the right side.

【#Mリーグ2025-26 ユニフォーム写真公開のお知らせ】

2025年9月15日より始まる「Mリーグ2025-26シーズン」でのユニフォーム写真を公開させていただきます。

新ユニフォームに身を包んだ各選手の活躍をご期待ください！#サクラナイツ #岡田紗佳#堀慎吾 #渋川難波#阿久津翔太 pic.twitter.com/f329Ii9agZ

— KADOKAWAサクラナイツ🌸 (@kadokawa_sk) September 1, 2025

Konami Mahjong Fight Club

Aside from the new logo, the Konami Mahjong Fight Club jersey has a bit more blue and light red (almost pink) on the sleeves and the sides. There are also some additional sponsors on the jersey as well.

すっごく横向きな決めポーズっ！
ピンクと青なファイトクラブも宜しくお願いします☺︎☺︎☺︎ https://t.co/SJtlyRQigu pic.twitter.com/oa5NjfOGBQ

— 伊達朱里紗（だてありさ） (@_datex_) September 1, 2025

Sega Sammy Phoenix

The Sega Sammy Phoenix uniform is mostly unchanged aside from a bit more contrast and some additional sponsors.

撮影はこんな感じでしたよ〜📷✨ pic.twitter.com/cYqd7UL6jH

— 茅森早香 (@sayakaya0504) September 1, 2025

Shibuya Abemas

The Shibuya Abemas have chosen to go for a simple look, featuring a mostly dark uniform with bronze accents on the sides and collar.

Mリーグ新ユニフォーム発表されました！！

基本的にはあまり変わらないけどストライプ入って黒ベース！！！ pic.twitter.com/KoEZyCGpFO

— 松本 吉弘 (@yoshihiro_npm) September 1, 2025

Team Raiden

Team Raiden‘s overall design is relatively unchanged at first look aside from the brighter yellow on the sides. However, when you look more closely, you can see the lightning bolt shape all throughout the dark sections of the jersey.

U-Next Pirates

The U-Next Pirates uniform still features their signature blue look,, though the overall design now has horizontal zigzag lines representing waves. These waves are said to symbolize “eternity, challenge, achievement, and good fortune”.

新ユニフォーム発表 /

このチームで三度目の優勝を
その先の連覇を成し遂げたい

永遠、挑戦と達成、幸運を意味する波
波に透けるは経験に裏打ちされた思考回路
さらに史上最多12社のロゴを掲げて戦います#Mリーグ 2025-26は9/15(月)開幕
今シーズンも熱い応援をお願いします！！ pic.twitter.com/SamO5yFQut

— U-NE𝕏T Pirates (@unext_pirates) September 1, 2025

On August 8, 2025, M-League released the schedule for the upcoming 2025-26 season. They also announced additions and adjustments to both the team and individual award prizes.

New Prizes

Starting in the 2025-26 season, the top prize for the championship winning team will be increased to ¥70,000,000 (up from ¥50,000,000 the previous season). In addition, the 4th place team in the finals will now receve a prize of ¥5,000,000. The prize for 2nd place and 3rd place in the finals will remain at ¥20,000,000 and ¥10,000,000, respectively. The prize for the top team in the regular season remains at ¥3,000,000.

For the individual awards, there is now a new award: most 1sts. The player with the most 1sts in the regular season will receive a ¥1,000,000 prize. This is in addition to the existing MVP award (¥2,000,000), highest hanchan (¥1,000,000) and 4th avoidance award (¥1,000,000).

Starting this season, players must play a minimum of 20 games and a maximum of 40 games, up from the previous 10 game minimum and down from the previous 45 game maximum. The 20-game minimum is also the minimum number of games to be eligible for the individual awards.

Schedule

With the addition of the Earth Jets, M-League has increased the number of games during the regular season to 300 games total (120 games per team).

To accomodate this, M-League will have simultaneous games being played on Thursdays and Fridays from September 25 to February 20.

The format of the semifinals and the finals will remain the same. The top 6 teams in the regular season will play 30 games total (20 games each). The top 4 teams from the semifinals will then go on and play 16 games to determine the champion.

The M-League 2025-26 regular season will start on Monday, September 15, 2025.

Full schedule image (from m-league.jp)

For your convenience, I have created a Google Calendar of the schedule (with times in JST), as well as one for each team. There is also an iCalendar (.ics) file that you can download to put the schedule on your computer’s calendar.

Any mistakes are purely my own. If there is any discrepancy between the calendar and the official M-League schedule, the official M-League schedule is correct.

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On June 30, 2025, the M-League 2025-26 Draft took place, where nine players across four teams were chosen to compete on the M-League stage. From young and old, new and returning faces, let’s take a look at the players who will be playing on the M-League stage next season.

Continue reading “Nine Players Drafted At M-League 2025-26 Draft”

The M-League 2025-26 Draft is in just a few days! Today, we’ll take a look at everything you need to know about the draft, as well as some potential candidates that we’re keeping an eye on.

The Draft

The M-League 2025-26 Draft will take place on June 30 starting at 17:00 JST. It will be broadcast live on the ABEMA Mahjong Channel. The broadcast is expected to last 90 minutes and is likely to also include interviews from the managers who drafted.

Drafting Order

With the addition of the Earth Jets this season, they will have the opportunity to draft first. Afterwards, the remaining teams that have vacancies in their roster will pick one player each, going in reverse standings order of the 2024-25 season. This process repeats until all vancancies have been filled.

1. Earth Jets (1st pick)
2. Earth Jets (2nd pick)
3. Earth Jets (3rd pick)
4. Earth Jets (4th pick)
5. Beast X (1st pick)
6. EX Furinkazan (1st pick)
7. Kadokawa Sakura Knights (1st pick)
8. Beast X (2nd pick)
9. EX Furinkazan (2nd pick)

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Potential Candidates

Drafting teams have the option to draft from any of the five supporting professional mahjong organizations:

• Japan Professional Mahjong Federation (JPML)
• Nihon Pro Mahjong (NPM)
• Saikouisen Pro Mahjong (SPM)
• Mahjong Union (Mu/μ!)
• Real Mahjong Unit (RMU)

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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.

Top players from the mahjong circuit are always top contenders for good results. Focus on choosing them is on the Earth Jets, who will have the first four picks in the draft. Some top pros and fan favourites include:

• Ishii Kazuma (石井一馬) (Saikouisen) (Current Saikoui, 2-time Saikouisen Classic winner)
• Hiro Shibata (HIRO柴田) (JPML) (JPML A1 League, 39th JPML Hououi, 2-time Grand Prix MAX winner)
• Kuwada Kenta (桑田憲汰) (JPML) (Back-to-back Saikyousen winner, WRC 2025 Under-29 Team)
• Gao Yunfei (高雲飛) (Saikouisen) (23rd Tenhoui, first non-Japanese Tenhoui)
• Akutsu Shota (阿久津翔太) (JPML) (1st Young Lion Cup winner, WRC 2025 Under-29 Team)

The Earth Jets also have to choose at least one female player. Some top female players include:

• Aikawa Marie (相川まりえ) (Saikouisen) (28th Saikouisen Women’s League Champion)
• Aikawa Megumu (逢川恵夢) (NPM) (current and 5-time NPM Mahjong Queen)
• Asahina Yuri (朝比奈ゆり) (JPML) (9th Cherry Bud Cup, 16th WRC League Champion, WRC 2025 Under-29 Team)
• Nakata Kana (仲田加南) (JPML) (4-time Cherry Blossom Cup winner)

For all teams, there is some new excitement in the possibility of bringing back old faces. With the addition of former M-Leaguers, teams have the opportunity to both give the player a second chance and to bring the player’s fan base to the team. Former M-Leaguers that were dropped or have left in the past three years include:

• Uotani Yuumi (JPML)
• Uchikawa Kotaro (JPML)
• Kondo Seiichi (JPML)
• Murakami Jun (Saikouisen)
• Asakura Koushin (Saikouisen)
• Ishibashi Nobuhiro (Saikouisen)
• Maruyama Kanako (Saikouisen)
• Tojo Rio (JPML)
• Sarukawa Masatoshi (JPML)
• Sugawara Hiroe (JPML)

For the Beast X, Shimoishi Geki (下石戟) (NPM) will fill in one of the two spots for winning the Beast X New Member Audition. For the other spot, other audition player

• Asai Yusuke (浅井裕介) (Saikouisen) (2025 Audition runner up)
• Arai Keibun (新井啓文) (Saikouisen) (2025 Audition 3rd place)
• Tomozoe Toshiyuki (友添敏之) (Saikouisen) (2025 Audition 6th place)

For the EX Furinkazan, Nagai Kousuke (永井孝典) (Saikouisen) will take one of the team’s two vacant spots because he won the EX Furinkazan

• Kouno Naoya (河野直也) (Saikouisen, M-League Colour Commentator) (Dropped out of audition semifinals due to illness)
• Hitotsui Shinya (一井慎也) (JPML, 1st Special Sparring Partner/IKUSA 2023 winner)
• Arai Keibun (新井啓文) (Saikouisen) (Eliminated in 1st round)
• Shinohara Saemi (篠原 冴美) (JPML, 3rd Special Sparring Partner/IKUSA 2025 winner) (Eliminated in 1st round)

From contracts to tournaments, a lot of things have happened since our last M-League update! Let’s take a look at what’s new in the world of M-League!

Table of Contents

1. Contract Statuses
2. EX Furinkazan New Member Audition 2025 Results
3. Beast X Member Replacement Audition Results
4. M-Tournament Update
5. New M-League Official Song “NO MAP”

Continue reading “M-League 2025-26 Preseason: Late June Update”