We are live and going on Fantasizr for the Nagoya 2023 basho. The sumo itself starts on July 9th for the summer tournament, and that means you have just under two weeks to select your first lineup. If this is your first time playing or you need a reminder of how Fantasy Basho works, you select four rikishi and get points for their performance. It's two points for a win, one for a kinboshi, and one for a Special Prize given on Day Fifteen. You can pick a new lineup for all fifteen days of action, or you can pick one before the basho starts and ride it out. The one major catch is that you must follow a budget based on rank. With the Nagoya Basho Banzuke out, that budget looks like this:
There are quite a few interesting things about this tournament's rankings.
First things first, we have a new Ozeki who has a new name. After 11 wins in May, Kiribayama was elevated to sumo's second rank. In the first three basho of 2023, Kiribayama had 34 wins, a Yusho, a Jun-Yusho, and three special prizes. That got him a promotion and a different shikona. Now he will be Kirishima (霧島). That is the same ring-name as his stablemaster Michinoku-oyakata, who himself was an Ozeki in the early 1990s.
For Nagoya, we have 8 Sanyaku wrestlers, with 1 Yokozuna, 2 Ozeki, 3 Sekiwake, and 2 Komusubi. That means the joi-jin, the group of the top 16 ranked wrestlers who should all see each other, goes down to Maegashira #4 West Ura. Of course, that group isn't guaranteed to all face each other because of injuries, the prohibition on stablemates fighting each other, and the fact it's a guideline not a rule. Just know that Midorifuji, Meisei, Asanoyama, and Ura should all have a much more difficult schedule compared to Hiradoumi, Onosho, Hokuseiho, and Oho. Everyone in that last quartet besides Onosho is at a career high rank, by the way.
At the bottom of the Banzuke, we're getting down to Maegashira #17 West and one of the most expected debuts in a long time. Hakuoho is, as the name suggests, a Miyagino-beya man who is a protege of the Greatest of All Time, Hakuho. He also is making his Makuuchi debut after an astonishing three lower-division bashos. As Ochiai (his birth family name), he went 31-6 as a 19 year old across one Makushita and two Juryo basho. He should be a great one in time, although who knows how he'll be in his top division debut.
Also making debuts are Gonoyama and Shonnanoumi. These two are older than Ochiai, but also have excellent recent track records. In fact, Gonoyama is at the remarkable level of Maegashira #13 after going 14-1 with a playoff victory over Ochiai-now-Hakuoho as Juryo #1 East. That's someone with a chance of making an immediate splash.
Wakatakakage fell to Maegashira #12 West for Nagoya after missing the whole of Natsu. He is still recovering from knee surgery and will also miss all of Nagoya. This will be his final Makuuchi rank on the Banzuke for awhile.
Sign up now, and invite any friends you think will enjoy Fantasy Basho for this tournament.
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