2021 M.League season

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

The 2021-22 M.League season is the fourth season to M.League.

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 (RMU) 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)
U-NEXT Pirates	Go Kobayashi (Mahjong Union) Koushin Asakura (Saikouisen) Nobuhiro Ishibashi (Saikouisen) Akina Mizuhara (Saikouisen)	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. A total of 169 applicants from five professional associations signed up. Selection was based on a competition system mixed with notoriety via Twitter followings and other factors. In the end, Takaya Matsugase won the final competition and filled the roster spot.

Released members

Konami Mahjong Fight Club does not renew the contracts for Yudai Maehara and Satoshi Fujisaki. SegaSammy Phoenix does not renew the contract for Akira Wakutsu. Despite winning the previous season's title, EX Furinkazan has a roster change, as Kazunori Takizawa opts out of renewing his contract.

Draft

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

1. SegaSammy Phoenix (Rio Tojo)
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. 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
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	Net	End	Difference
1	KADOKAWA Sakura Knights	88.5	160.0	248.5	-
2	Konami Mahjong Fight Club	124.5	60.4	184.9	63.6
3	Shibuya Abemas	164.1	-40.2	123.9	61.0
4	Sega Sammy Phoenix	92.1	28.1	120.2	3.7
5	EX Furinkazan	92.2	-24.1	68.1	52.1
6	U-NEXT Pirates	188.6	-184.2	4.4	63.7

Final

#	Team	Start	Net	Final	Difference	Prize
1	KADOKAWA Sakura Knights	124.3	77.7	202.0	-	¥50 million
2	Sega Sammy Phoenix	60.1	81.5	141.6	60.4	¥20 million
3	Shibuya Abemas	92.5	-38.3	54.2	87.4	¥10 million
4	Konami Mahjong Fight Club	62.0	-120.9	-58.9	113.1

Individual awards

Individual 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

• Hisato Sasaki (Suuankou) 2022-03-22 [1]

External links

• Mリーグ2021

2021 M.League season in Japanese Wikipedia