M-League 2020: Coach and Staff Matches

Final Table

Link to match: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-7_s80_p3

Lucky or Unlucky?

In E1-0, Fujisawa starts off with a honitsu looking haipai with a pair of white dragon and of his seat wind north. With the first north discard, he instantly called pon to quickly advance his hand. He calls pon on the first white dragon as well, putting him iishanten. Even with this speed, Koshiyama reaches tenpai first, calling riichi on a 36m nobetan wait. Even with the riichi, Fujisawa continues to push. Near the end of the second row, he gets to tenpai on a 2m nakabukure wait. On his next draw, he draws a white dragon and calls kan. He reveals the south as the dora and draws a south himself. He switches his wait to the dora, bringing his hand to haneman tenpai. Unlucky for Koshiyama and lucky for Fujisawa, Koshiyama draws the south right after and deals into Fujisawa. Fujisawa wins the hand with Honitsu/White Dragon/North/Dora 2 for 12000, plus Koshiyama’s riichi stick.

Back-to-Back Dama Dealer Mangan

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In S1-0, Koshiyama starts out with a 3-dora hapai and Kinoshita has a nice callable hand. Discarding the standard terminals and honours, Kinoshita manages to get himself to iishanten, . Koshiyama calls pon on the white dragon near the end of the first row, guaranteeing a yaku for his 3-dora hand. Koshiyama struggles to advance his hand with good shapes, but manages to make his hand more expensive with honitsu. This stall from Koshiyama allowed Kinoshita to get to tenpai first. He decides to stay dama on a 4p/7s shanpon, with quite a few tiles that can improve the wait or value. A few turns later, Kinoshita draws the 8s, giving him a ryanmen chance with riichi. He declines it, keeping the hand to look for even better draws or to take his opponents by surprise. Observing the situation, Morii decides to break the silence and call riichi on a 7p kanchan for riichi nomi, a bold move with no dora visible. Everyone continues to push, with valuable hands and good waits available. Fujisawa, manages to call to tenpai with a 3m tanki wait. Then, on his last draw, Kinoshita draws the 7s and calls tsumo, beating out the two obvious tenpai hands. Winning with a Tsumo/Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 1, Kinoshita wins 4000 from all, taking Morii’s riichi stick with him.

In S1-1, Kinoshita holds two dora, but a haipai of bad shapes. Koshiyama’s hand edges towars value and speed, holding honour pairs and honitsu groups. Over the first few draws, Kinoshita’s hand improves, giving him ryanmen to replace his kanchans. When Kinoshita only has one kanchan left, he manages to draw the red 5m to fill it. Morii is the first one to tenpai, calling riichi on his pinfu nomi hand on a 47p wait. Even with the pressure from Morii, Kinoshita pushes his mangan minimum hand. Getting to tenpai at the end of the second row, Kinoshita stays dama on a 25s wait, with the 5s genbutsu against Morii’s riichi. The trap isn’t necessary, as Kinoshita draws the 2s himself for Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 2/Aka 1 and 4000+100 all, plus 1000 from Morii’s riichi.

Fujisawa’s Comeback

In S4-0, Fujisawa is 19200 behind 1st place Kinoshita and needs to take advantage of his dealer turn. His haipai, however, refused to give him a break. Starting at 6-shanten for a normal hand, his hand was closer to kokushi at 5-shanten. He discards the 9p first, rejecting the thought of kokushi. Luckily for him, none of the other hands could get past iishanten, not even on the third turn. Fujisawa’s slow hand is the first to get to tenpai at the end of the second row and actually manages to win off Kinoshita with a White Dragon/Dora 1 for 3900.

In S4-1, Kinoshita deals into Fujisawa again, this time on a dama Ittsuu immediately after completion for 3900+300

In S4-2, the targeting continues, with Kinoshita dealing into Fujisawa with a Tanyao/Aka 1 for 2900+600 to surpass Kinoshita.

In S4-3, Koshiyama is in last place and is a haneman tsumo away from taking 1st. When he gets to tenpai, he calls riichi, hoping for a Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1 and one more han, whether it be ippatsu or ura dora. Kinoshita, wanting to end the game, pushes his hand to tenpai, waiting on the 4m. He has the choice to take a 2m wait, but keeps the 4m kanchan wait. Fujisawa, wanting to extend his lead, makes some calls and ends up tenpai on the white dragon dora. Morii, who was only a mangan tsumo away from 1st, pushes his hand as well, and ends up tenpai on a 5p kanchan wait. The pain begins for Kinoshita, when Koshiyama discards the 2m. The pain begins for Koshiyama, unable to draw the tile he needs. The pain begins for Morii, who ends up discarding the white dragon into Fujisawa’s hand for Honitsu/East/Dora 2 and 12000+900.

Over the four hands, Fujisawa managed to earn 26500 points, going from 21400 to 47900.

One Last Chance?

In S4-4, Kinoshita is 18900 behind Fujisawa, meaning he needs a haneman tsumo or a sanbaiman ron off anyone to surpass him. Kinoshita’s haipai doesn’t look very promising, only having a dora and a red dora with bad shapes all around. With Fujiwara holding two dora and good toitoi shapes, it looks like Fujiwara will increase the lead, giving no hope to Kinoshita. In the first row Morii calls a closed kan on the 3p, revealing the 8m as the dora. With Kinoshita holding one of them, it rekindles the hope for Kinoshita’s hand, having a minimum of 4 han in a winning hand. Adding another red dora to the mix, his han value is set, with a tsumo bringing the hand up to a haneman. He gets to tenpai at the end of the 3rd row, calling riichi on the 3s penchan. When Koshiyama discards the 3s on the ippatsu turn, Kinoshita calls ron on the discarded 3s, missing out on the chance for 1st, but nonetheless a nice way to end the game. Kinoshita wins the hand Riichi/Ippatsu/Dora 2/Aka 2 for 12000+1200.

Final Scores

	Player	Score	Final Score
1st	Fujisawa Harunobu	47900	+67.9
2nd	Kinoshita Nao	42200	+22.2
3rd	Morii Takumi	20200	-19.8
4th	Koshiyama Go	-10300	-70.3

The last place team from last season has come back and taken first place in the coach and staff tournament! After the game, three select EX Furinkazan t-shirts were available for free for a limited time while supplies lasted.