M-League 2020 Finals: Games #3-4

Game #4

More Folding = More Time to Tsumo

May 11, Game 2, E2-2

In E2-2, Hori is in 3rd place with his first dealership already passed. Nobody has anything with interest to start with, even the south pair in Hori’s hand is ruined by the pair in Taro’s hand. Eaerly on, Hori manages to pair up the green dragon dora and calls pon on it to get to iishanten by the end of the 1st row. Later, Hori makes another call to get to tenpai on a 69p ryanmen wait. With an open mangan and nobody wanting to fall out of reach, the players begin to fold. With the folding, Hori has more chances to draw it himself. In the middle of the 3rd row, Hori draws the 6s to win the hand. Hori wins with Green Dragon/Dora 3 for 2,000+200/4,000+200 to take 2nd place.

Ooi’s Comeback

May 11, Game 2

After a bunch of tsumo losses, getting hit with the dealer penalty from a haneman tsumo and getting hit by a 5,800 point hand, Ooi is at 8,600 at the start of E4-1. In E4-1, Ooi’s first 13 tiles is already iishanten, meaning that he has a chance at double riichi. Unfortunately, the first draw misses. On turn 3, Ooi has a chance to be tenpai, but rejects it to have a chance for ittsuu or at the very least a better wait. By the end of the 1st row, both Katsumata and Hori join Ooi at iishanten. In the middle of the 2nd row, Ooi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen wait. On Ooi’s ippatsu draw, he finds the 6m and wins the hand. Ooi wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 1 for 2,000+100/4,000+100.

In S1-0, Ooi calls pon on the red dragon before his first draw. By the end of the 1st row Taro (who called riichi on a 4m wait) and Ooi (1m/1p) are tenpai and Hori is iishanten for honitsu. Near the start of the 2nd row, Hori tries to take tenpai by discarding the 1p, but ends up dealing into Ooi.

Ooi wins the hand with Red Dragon/Dora 1 for 2,000.

In S2-0, Ooi starts out with a 2-shanten hand with a pair of double souths. On turn 2, he completes the double south ankou to get to iishanten. Though Ooi seems to have the most favourable hand, both Hori and Taro join him at iishanten on turn 4. At the end of the 1st row, Ooi draws a 4th south and calls kan. The kandora benefits Hori, but the rinshan gets Ooi to tenpai and he calls riichi on a 69p nobetan. On the ippatsu draw, Ooi gets the 6p. Ooi wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Double South/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000. With the win, it puts Ooi into 1st place, an amazing reversal from his 4th place a few hands ago.

In S3-0, Ooi is now the dealer and is looking to extend the lead. He starts out with a pair of easts and an ankou of norths. Early on, Ooi calls pon on the easts and a chii on a red 5s to get to iishanten. Near the end of the 1st row, Ooi gets rid of a block in order to aim for honitsu. The added value attempt doesn’t come without risk, however. By the middle of the 2nd row, everyone is iishanten or better. Soon after, Taro gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 1m tanki wait for chiitoi. Within the ippatsu turn, Ooi gets to tenpai and discards the 7s to wait on the 4s. With Taro having already discarded a 1s, it makes the 4s a middle suji and a trap has been laid. Immediately after, Katsumata discards the 4s, both getting him to tenpai and his safest tile.

To his surprise, Ooi calls ron to win the hand. Ooi wins with Honitsu/East/Aka 1 for 12,000 and the clear lead.

With those four hand, it brought Ooi to 1st place and helped him end the game in 1st place.

Final Scores

Standings

After 4 games, the Shibuya Abemas have really taken the finals. Having a 157.8pt lead over the Kadokawa Sakura Knights, it’s their biggest lead over the team so far in the finals. However, the Kadokawa Sakura Knights are not out of the running. Two good 1sts and they will be on top. For the EX Furinkazan and the Akasaka Drivens, 1st place may be a bit too far out of reach (with the EX Furinkazan being 340.7pts from 1st and the Akasaka Drivens being 394.6pts away). However, trying to get 2nd place and the 20 million yen prize is still within the realm of possibility. For the EX Furinkazan, avoiding 4th place will be vitally important and may change their objective for these finals.

We are a third of the way through the M-League 2020 Finals! Though the gaps are wide, nothing is impossible in mahjong! How will the rest of the finals play out? The journey will continue this Thursday! See you then!

Intro | Game #3 | Game #4