2021 M.League season

The 2021 M League season is the fourth season to M.League.

2021 M.League season

M League logo
Host M League
Type Professional league
Team count 8 teams
Finalists
Champion KADOKAWA Sakura Knights
Runner up Sega Sammy Phoenix
Third Shibuya Abemas
Fourth Konami Mahjong Fight Club

Rosters

Team name Previous roster Drafted player(s) Released
Akasaka Drivens Ken Sonoda (Saikouisen)
Jun Murakami (Saikouisen)
Taro Suzuki (Saikouisen)
Kanako Maruyama (Saikouisen)
None
EX Furinkazan Aki Nikaido (JPML)
Kenji Katsumata (JPML)
Takaya Matsugase (NPM)
Rumi Nikaido (JPML)
Kazunori Takizawa (JPML)
KADOKAWA Sakura Knights Kotaro Uchikawa (JPML)
Sayaka Okada (JPML)
Makoto Sawazaki (JPML)
Shingo Hori (Nihon Pro Mahjong Kyokai)
None
Konami Mahjong Fight Club Hisato Sasaki (JPML)
Mari Takamiya (JPML)
Arisa Date (JPML)
Kazunori Takizawa (JPML)
Yudai Maehara (JPML)
Satoshi Fujisaki (JPML)
Shibuya Abemas Takaharu Ooi (RMU)
Sho Shiratori (JPML)
Yoshihiro Matsumoto (Nihon Pro Mahjong Kyokai)
Aiko Hinata (Saikouisen)
None
SegaSammy Phoenix Yuumi Uotani (JPML)
Seiichi Kondo (Saikouisen)
Sayaka Kayamori (Saikouisen)
Rio Toujou (JPML) Akira Wakutsu (JPML)
TEAM RAIDEN Masato Hagiwara (JPML)
Naoki Setokuma (JPML)
Saki Kurosawa (JPML)
Tomohiro Honda (JPML) None
U-NEXT Pirates Go Kobayashi (Mahjong Union)
Koushin Asakura (Saikouisen)
Nobuhiro Ishibashi (Saikouisen)
Akina Mizuhara (Saikouisen)
None None

Furinkazan tryout

As the 2020 M League season nears conclusion, EX Furinkazan opens up a position on the team. A four phase system is used to filter applicants to select one player to fill the roster spot.[1] A total of 169 applicants from five professional associations signed up. Selection will be based on a competition system mixed with notoriety via Twitter followings and other factors.

Released members

Konami Fight Club does not renew the contracts for Yudai Maehara and Satoshi Fujisaki. The team will be looking to bring in new players from the upcoming draft.[2] SegaSammy Phoenix does not renew the contract for Akira Wakutsu.[3] Despite winning the previous season's title, EX Furinkazan has a roster change, as Kazunori Takizawa opts out of renewing his contract.[4]

Draft

The draft occurred on August 2, 2021. Four teams were open to make draft choices in the following order:

  1. SegaSammy Phoenix (Rio Toujo)
  2. TEAM RAIDEN (Tomohiro Honda)
  3. Konami Mahjong Fight Club (Arisa Date)
  4. EX Furinkazan (Takaya Matsugase)
  5. Konami Mahjong Fight Club (Kazunori Takizawa)
  6. EX Furinkazan (Rumi Nikaido)

All teams opted for their draft picks, and thus all teams filled their four player rosters.[5] Kazunori Takizawa was released from EX Furinkazan during the off season and was not eligible to rejoin his former team.

Standings

Regular season

# Team Points Difference from next
1 U-NEXT Pirates 377.1 -
2 Shibuya Abemas 328.2 48.9
3 Konami Mahjong Fight Club 249.0 79.2
4 EX Furinkazan 184.4 64.6
5 Sega Sammy Phoenix 184.2 0.2
6 KADOKAWA Sakura Knights 177.0 7.2
7 Akasaka Drivens -263.8 440.8
8 TEAM RAIDEN -1256.1 992.3

Semifinal

# Team Start Points End Points Difference from next
1 KADOKAWA Sakura Knights 88.5 248.5 -
2 Konami Mahjong Fight Club 124.5 184.9 63.6
3 Shibuya Abemas 164.1 123.9 61.0
4 Sega Sammy Phoenix 92.1 120.2 3.7
5 EX Furinkazan 92.2 68.1 52.1
6 U-NEXT Pirates 188.6 4.4 63.7

Final

# Team Start Points Final Points Difference from next Prize
1 KADOKAWA Sakura Knights 124.3 202.0 - ¥50 million
2 Sega Sammy Phoenix 60.1 141.6 60.4 ¥20 million
3 Konami Mahjong Fight Club 92.5 54.2 87.4 ¥10 million
4 Shibuya Abemas 62.0 -58.9 113.1

Individual awards

Top score

  1. Akina Mizuhara
  2. Makoto Sawazaki
  3. Kazunori Takizawa

Top hanchan

  1. Arisa Date
  2. Koushin Asakura
  3. Yoshihiro Matsumoto

Fourth place avoidance

  1. Takaharu Ooi
  2. Sho Shiratori
  3. Akina Mizuhara

Yakuman

References

External links

2021 M.League season in Japanese Wikipedia