Continuing our journey across the country, we now look at a player based out of NSW. Australia’s first Wednesday night friendlies Meijin, Seungwoo, more commonly known as Ani.

Ani joined ARMA 2 years ago and has since entrenched himself as a member of the community. He can often be found playing in our Wednesday night friendlies, where he currently holds titles in all 4 rulesets.

Q) What is your name? How did you get into mahjong and how long have you been playing?

My name is Seungwoo, my friends call me Justin and my internet friends call me Ani. I just happened to watch a Korean streamer called Dawn when he was playing Mahjong soul around 2 years ago, and I decided to pick it up on a whim.

Q) Could you explain your playstyle? what type of mahjong do you like to play?

The type of mahjong that makes me happy is a rational playstyle with some yomi incorporated into it – but I also want to be able to swap depending on the situation.

Q) In your short time playing mahjong you have posted a number of good results in ARMA events and event achieved Saint 2 peak on MJS Also you are the first person in the ARMA community to achieve the “meijin” title. What do you credit to your success?

I wouldn’t say I had a lot of success, but I do think I just had the right mindset to be able to adapt to mahjong quickly; some good resources and teachers; and a little bit of luck in regards to my St2 climb. As for the friendlies title, I think I could’ve played better during those 4 months and I hope that the title will motivate more people to come join us on Wednesdays.

Q) What are you current goals for mahjong?

Just to steadily become a better player, and train my mental since I sometimes do get in over my head a bit. Milestones I would like to achieve are: Cl in Mjs, 8D+ in Tenhou, WRC qualification and IORMC qualification. Of course I would like to win those events as well.

Q) Why are you trying to qualify for WRC and what would it mean to you if you did?

I believe qualifications and tournaments are ways I can prove and measure how much I have improved over these two years. The WRC seat is a chance for me to learn to love mahjong more, have new experiences that will improve me as a player, and give me that chance to prove that I can be the best in the world.

At the end of week 2, Ani has had an unfortunate start in the Aussie WRC Qualifier League and is currently placed 21/22. Whilst he still has 4 weeks to make a push for 1st, he has a significant amount of work to do, but, being one of Australia’s highest ranked players, he certainly has the capability to do so. We look forward to seeing Ani work hard to show why he deserves a WRC seat.