Game #10
Kadokawa
Sakura Knights
Shibuya
Abemas
EX Furinkazan
Akasaka
Drivens
Unfortunate Ippatsu (Again…)
May 17, Game 2, E2-0
In E2-0, Ooi is in last place after dealing into Katsumata’s 5,200 hand and is the dealer. Ooi, along with everyone else, has a hand that develops well and gets to 2-shanten by the end of the 1st row. At the start of the 2nd row, Ooi and Hori both get to iishanten, with everyone else joining them by the end of the 2nd row. The first player to get to tenpai is Katsumata, who calls a pon to wait on a 58p nobetan wait. Soon after, Ooi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen wait for 5,800 minimum. However, on Ooi’s ippatsu draw, he draws the 8p dora and deals into Katsumata.
Katsumata wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 8,000, plus Ooi’s riichi stick.
Thought to be Impossible
May 17, Game 2, S1-1
In S1-1, Hori is the dealer and is tied at 2nd place, wanting to make up some ground on Katsumata. Both he and Katsumata start out with good hands, with both of them iishanten by the end of the 1st row. The first player to get to tenpai is Katsumata who calls chii to wait on a 47p ryanmen wait. With two dora in hand a a red dora, the hand is sneakily waiting with a mangan. As Hori pushes, he discards the 7p. Katsumata wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 8,000+300, plus a leftover riichi stick.
Though the hand seems like a standard mangan, it was more than that. With the win, it put Hori into last place. If the game were to end now, then the EX Furinkazan would move into 1st place in the overall standings.
This is a truly amazing feat. At the start of the finals, the team started out in 4th place and 309.9pts from 1st place. Most people were worrying more about a player being eliminated than the prospect of the team getting to the top. But with each game won, the team started to climb and climb and their hard work has finally paid off.
Final Hand of the Day
May 17, Game 2, S4-0
In S4-0, Ooi is in 4th place, 4,300 behind 3rd place Hori and 6,800 behind 2nd place dealer Taro. If Ooi can get to 2nd place, then the Shibuya Abemas would surpass the Kadokawa Sakura Knights. and potentially take back 1st place. Ooi starts out the round with a 2-shanten hand. On turn 5, Ooi has a choice to get into tenpai. Holding two red dora, adding riichi would be enough to take 3rd, with tsumo bringing the hand to mangan. However, the 6s kanchan wait seemed a bit to difficult to complete, so Ooi discarded the 3s pair to find a better wait. Soon after, Ooi ends up drawing the 6s, an unfortunate mangan miss. However, he is tenpai and calls riichi on a 23m wait. With Hori needing to avoid 4th and a decent chance at going to 2nd, he continues to push. Near the end of the 2nd row, Hori draws the 2m.
After considering for almost a minute with his iishanten hand, Hori ends up discarding the 2m and deals into Ooi. Ooi wins the hand and hoping to find an uradora for the mangan he wants. Unfortunately, he does not find it, having to settle with Riichi/Aka 2 for 5,200 to take 3rd place.
Final Scores
Standings
Well, well, well. look how the turntables tables have turned. After starting out 4th place and 309.9pts behind 1st place at the start of the season, EX Furinkazan are officially 1st place in the standings! With the win marking Katsumata’s 4th win of the finals, the team has really worked really hard to get here. For the Kadokawa Sakura Knights and the Shibuya Abemas, this setback is a bit painful, but not insurmountable. With only 16.9pts between the three teams, it will really be up to who does the best tomorrow. For the Akasaka Drivens, they will just be there for show. However, they can throw a wrench in the system and mess up the rest of the other teams. With some really good results and some targetting, they can still potentially take 3rd place.
EX Furinkazan Elimination Tracker
1st!
▲+164.3pts
(251.1pts ahead of 4th)
Katsumata
▲+642.5pts
Takizawa
+421.3pts
Nikaido
-201.1pts
I don’t even know why we have the EX Furinkazan Elimination Tracker anymore. With the back-to-back wins for Katsumata, it brings the team into 1st place and the team basically clear of 4th place. As long as they don’t go into the negatives for 2 games in a row and the Akasaka Drivens don’t take 1st place with 40,000+ each game, the team will be safe. They should definitely be focusing more on winning it all than avoiding 4th place in the overall standings.
That’s all for today! One more day left and a champion will be crowned! With only 16.9pts separating 1st and 3rd place, tomorrow is guaranteed to be an intense game!. Will the seasoned veterans, the Shibuya Abemas take the top spot in their 3rd time in the finals? WIll the newest team with the newest player, the Kadokawa Sakura Knights, be able to become royalty? Will the underdogs, the EX Furinkazan, be able to bring their best to battle and be the best? For one last time, we’ll just have to wait and see! See you on the final day!
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