M.League
M.League 「Mリーグ」 is a professional mahjong team league. This is the first league, where mahjong players receive a salary for playing games. Players are fielded from the various mahjong professional leagues. An M.League season consists of a number of regular season games followed by a playoff final. Each team is corporate sponsored, and thus they represent their respective companies. All league activity is hosted at the M.League Studio.
 M League logo | |
| Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Inception | 2018 |
| Leader |
Mr. Susumu Fujita, Chairman (Founder/President of CyberAgent) |
| Members | 8 teams |
Format
The main format of the competition features a regular season and a post season. The basic format of the season varies in the number of hanchan played.
Current format
With eight teams, the regular season spans for 90 days for 180 hanchan. This grants 90 hanchan per team. After the final regular season day, the top six teams continue into the semifinal round, where they play 12 hanchan on a 6 day schedule. Into the final, the top four play another round of 12 hanchan on a 6 day schedule.
Rules and regulations
Game rules are indicated in the Official M-League Rules 「Mリーグの公式戦ルール」. All gameplay is in the form of hanchan using AMOS brand professional mahjong tables.
Game day
Every game day session includes two hanchan. Teams scheduled to play send one team member for each of the two hanchan. If desired, one player may play both hanchan.
Game rules
League rules comply with general riichi mahjong rules with special competitive settings.
Draft
Prior to each season, one day is set for team drafts. Teams select from a field of players among the different professional organizations. The inaugural draft was held on August 7, 2018. Naturally, every team made their player selections to fill their rosters in the inaugural draft. Subsequent drafts in later years, teams may opt to draft new players or otherwise pass on the opportunity. Currently, each team has rosters of either three or four players.
Announcers
M.League Studio
The league has a dedicated studio for games and broadcasts. The studio is located in Hamamatsuchou, Minato, Tokyo.
Teams
| Logo | Team name | Company sponsor | Players | Inception |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Akasaka Drivens | Hakuhodo DY media partners | Ken Sonoda (Saikouisen) Jun Murakami (Saikouisen) Taro Suzuki (Saikouisen) Kanako Maruyama (Saikouisen) |
2018 |
 |
EX Furinkazan | TV Asahi | Aki Nikaido (JPML) Kenji Katsumata (JPML) Takaya Matsugase (NPM) Rumi Nikaido (JPML) |
2018 |
 |
Kadokawa Sakura Knights | KADOKAWA | Kotaro Uchikawa (JPML) Sayaka Okada (JPML) Makoto Sawazaki (JPML) Shingo Hori (Nihon Pro Mahjong) Nanba Shibukawa (Nihon Pro Mahjong) |
2019 |
 |
Konami Mahjong Fight Club | KONAMI | Hisato Sasaki (JPML) Mari Takamiya (JPML) Arisa Date (JPML) Kazunori Takizawa (JPML) |
2018 |
 |
SegaSammy Phoenix | SegaSammy | Yuumi Uotani (JPML) Seiichi Kondo (Saikouisen) Sayaka Kayamori (Saikouisen) Rio Toujou (JPML) |
2018 |
 |
Shibuya Abemas | CyberAgent | Takaharu Ooi (RMU) Sho Shiratori (JPML) Yoshihiro Matsumoto (Nihon Pro Mahjong Kyokai) Aiko Hinata (Saikouisen) |
2018 |
 |
Team Raiden | Dentsu | Masato Hagiwara (JPML) Naoki Setokuma (JPML) Saki Kurosawa (JPML) Tomohiro Honda (JPML) |
2018 |
 |
U-Next Pirates | U-Next | Go Kobayashi (Mahjong Union) Akina Mizuhara (Saikouisen) Yu Suzuki (Saikouisen) Kei Nakabayashi (Nihon Pro Mahjong) |
2018 |
Seasons
| Season | Start Date | End Date | Winner | Runnerup | Top regular season player |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2018-10-01 | 2019-03-31 | Akasaka Drivens | EX Furinkazan | Takaharu Ooi |
| 2019 | 2019-09-30 | 2020-06-23 | U-NEXT Pirates | SegaSammy Phoenix | Yuumi Uotani |
| 2020 | 2020-10-05 | 2021-05-18 | EX Furinkazan | KADOKAWA Sakura Knights | Hisato Sasaki |
| 2021 | 2021-10-04 | 2022-04-26 | KADOKAWA Sakura Knights | SegaSammy Phoenix | Akina Mizuhara |
| 2022 |
Top 10 hanchan scores
| Rank | Player | Team | Score | Date | Season (Hanchan) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arisa Date | Konami Fight Club | 125.5 | 2021-11-18 | 2021 (Reg 54) |
| 2 | Asakura Koushin | U-Next Pirates | 122.4 | 2021-12-02 | 2021 (Reg 70) |
| 3 | Hisato Sasaki | Konami Fight Club | 118.2 | 2021-04-22 | 2020 (SF 14) |
| 4 | Yuumi Uotani | Sega Sammy Phoenix | 114.4 | 2020-02-2 | 2019 (Reg 167) |
| 5 | Hisato Sasaki | Konami Fight Club | 114.0 | 2021-02-18 | 2020 (Reg 154) |
| 6 | Yoshihiro Matsumoto | Shibuya Abemas | 113.7 | 2021-04-29 | 2020 (SF 22) |
| 7 | Shingo Hori | Kadokawa Sakura Knights | 112.9 | 2021-01-02 | 2020 (Reg 97) |
| 8 | Makoto Sawazaki | Kadokawa Sakura Knights | 112.1 | 2019-11-19 | 2019 (Reg 64) |
| 9 | Naoki Setokuma | Team Raiden | 102.1 | 2019-11-26 | 2019 (Reg 72) |
| 10 | Hisato Sasaki | Konami Fight Club | 101.7 | 2019-01-07 | 2018 (Reg 97) |
Yakuman
A total of sixteen yakuman have been scored throughout the league seasons. The most scored in a season was in the 2019 season with eight. Thirteen individuals have scored at least one, while three have scored two. So far, all the yakuman scored fall under yakuman gosanke: suuankou, daisangen, and kokushi musou.
| Suuankou (tanki) | Kokushi Musou | Daisangen |
|---|---|---|
| 10 (incl 2) | 2 | 4 |
References
External links
- Mahjong channel on Abema.tv
- プロ麻雀リーグ「Mリーグ」発足 (YouTube)
- M League channel
- M.League in Japanese Wikipedia
- Blog covering game highlights