We are live on Fantasizr! The Nagoya basho starts on July 4th, so sign up, invite your friends, and pick your team before then.
The July tournament will be the first one held outside of Tokyo since 2019. In many other ways, it looks a bit odd on paper. Hakuho remains the lone Yokozuna, and he promies he'll be back, but he hasn't completed a tournament in more than a year. Asanoyama will not be completing this tournament, because the Ozeki will be banned from competing for a full year after lying to the JSA about violating COVID protocols. Ura is back in Makuuchi after a long injury layoff and a Juryo championship. Oh, and Terunofuji is under consideration for Yokozuna promotion if he wins again.
The Banzuke ended up being a bit odd, too. The usual mix and match of winning and losing records saw a wildly uneven promotion and demotion process. Tobizaru went 5-10 and only dropped one full rank. Aoiyama meanwhile dropped 5 ranks with a 4-3-8. Kotoeko and Chiyotairyu shot up the ranks in a bad sign for their prospects in July. Then there's the specific layout. Stablemates Endo and Daiesho ended up as the Maegashira 1s. They can't face each other, so the schedule at the top will automatically be strange.
Here is the Banzuke, listed straight by rank and showing the value in Fantasy Basho. After it will be some specific notes. Remember, when you select four rikishi, you have a budget of 50. And here are the specific values for each wrestler:
The joi-jin line, where everyone from that point up faces the top rikishi, is theoretically Maegashira 4 West Chiyotairyu. Except that Asanoyama is not competing, so Okinoumi is part of the group. As always, that line is fuzzy. Due to injuries, a ban on stablemates facing each other, and the fact the schedule never works out perfectly, Hoshoryu, Onosho, and Kiribayama are looking at some Sanyaku opponents.
Still, you'd rather be Hoshoryu, Onosho, and Kiribayama than Chiyotairyu and Okinoumi. Those three had moments in May, but ended up with losing records. They will have a slightly easier slate in Nagoya.
The rikishi promoted to Makuuchi for this basho are Ura, Chiyonoo, Tokushoryu, and Ichiyamamoto. Ichiyamamoto is the only actual debutant, but both Ura and Chiyonoo haven't been in the top division for awhile. Ura's story is a minor version of Terunofuji's, as he hasn't been here for four years due to a series of knee injuries. (He wasn't at the same level and is a different kind of wrestler entirely.) Chiyonoo has been away from Makuuchi for about the same timeframe, but with less dramatic reasons. Tokushoryu is in a yo-yo mode between the top two divisions after winning his surprise championship in January 2020.
Weird scheduling alerts. There are five Kokonoe-beya rikishi competing. The highest ranked one is Chiyotairyu at Maegashira 4. Kise-beya has four rikishi. These stablemates could all be in spots to face each other if that was allowed. That's not allowed, however, and you should have a thought for who makes the schedule each day. Also, Hidenoumi and Tobizaru are brothers, and they can't face each other.
From the get-go, a Juryo wrestler will need to face a lower-ranked rikishi due to Asanoyama's absence. He is unbalancing the schedule immediately. Just keep in mind, the schedulers don't like to have Juryo wrestlers become repeat visitors.
It's two weeks, and then sumo is back. Jump on Fantasizr now to get your team selected.
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