M-League 2020 Finals: Games #5-6

Game #5

Unfortunate Start

May 13, Game 1, E1-0

In E1-0, Shiratori is the first dealer and starts the hand off with an early pon of green dragon. At turn 4, Shiratori makes a call of the white dragon to get to iishanten. With no red dragons visible, there is a potential for shousangen or even daisangen. At the start of the 2nd row, the dream begins, with a single red dragon draw. Approaching the end of the 2nd row, Shiratori’s hope of getting the shousangen seem low. With still no red dragons visible, Shiratori probably thinks that they are in other people’s hands. As a result, he decides to go efficiently to keep his dealer turn and discards the red dragon. The decision comes back to haunt him, as he draws the red dragon the very next turn. Three turns after that, he draws a 3rd red dragon and the daisangen is missed.

In the end, Takizawa wins the hand with a 6s kanchan for Tsumo/Tanyao/Dora 1 for 1,000/2,000.

Furiten Riichi

May 13, Game 1, E3-0

In E3-0, Takizawa starts out with a 2-shanten. Though his hand is fairly quick, the lack of other yaku makes the hand not worth much. By turn 4, he gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 2s/8s yakuless shanpon wait. On turn 5, Takizawa draws a 7s to convert the hand to a 369s sanmenchan wait. However, he had previously discarded the 9s and would be in furiten. Nevertheless, Takizawa calls riichi and waits with the furiten wait. Two turns later, Sonoda chases Takizawa with a 7p dora penchan riichi. Even with the chase, Takizawa manges to win by calling tsumo on the 9s. Takizawa wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1 for 1,3000/2,600, plus Sonoda’s riichi stick.

Not Falling for the Suji Trap

May 13, Game 1, S3-0

In S3-0, Okada is in 2nd place and starts out with a chiitoi iishanten hand. Throwing out middle tiles for her first few discards, she gets to tenpai on turn 5, where she calls riichi to wait on a 9p. Having discarded the 6p as the first discard, the 9p is now a suji trap. However, all of them see what looks to be a chiitoi discard pile and they are wary of the situation. With the continued partial push from all of the players, both Takizawa and Sonoda build their hands.

In the end the hand ends in ryuukyoku and Okada, Sonoda and Takizawa are all tenpai.

5-Sided Wait

May 13, Game 1, S3-1

In S3-1, Takizawa is in 1st and looking to end Sonoda’s dealer turn so he can relax in S4-0. Takizawa starts out with a flexible starting hand. On turn 5, Takizawa becomes iishanten and on turn 6, Takizawa gets to tenpai on a red dragon dora tanki yakuless hand. Looking for a better and more reliable wait, he doesn’t call riichi and stays dama. The very next turn, he improves his wait greatly and calls riichi on a 24578p 5-sided wait. With Okada looking to go from 2nd place to 1st place, she pushes her hand and discards the 8p. Takizawa wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 8,000.

Final Scores

Standings

A win for the EX Furinkazan puts them closer to the top and further away from 4th. With a 231.4pts gap from 1st and 7 more games to go, the dream of becoming M-League champions is still there. For the Shibuya Abemas, they are starting to slip into dangerous territory. The 2n dplace from Okada and the 4th from Shiratori cuts their lead from 157.8pts to 111.1pts. With a 1st placce from the Kadokawa Sakura Knights and a 4th from the Shibuya Abemas, there’s a chance that the Sakura Knights might take the lead.

EX Furinkazan Elimination Tracker

As a new addition to the articles, we will be keeping track on the EX Furinkazan’s progress. With the EX Furinkazan announcing that they would be replacing one player if they place 4th. With Takizawa’s win in today’s game, it puts the team in a more comfortable 3rd place, being 138.0pts ahead of the Akasaka Drivens. At this point, Takizawa’s survival is basically secured.

Intro | Game #5 | Game #6