M-League 2020 Finals: Games #11-12 and the Awards Ceremony

Game #11

Big Start

May 18, Game 1, E1-0

In E1-0, both Katsumata and Sonoda start out 2-shanten, with Katsumata being closer to tenpai because of his two ryanmen shapes. On turn 4, Katsumata discards a red 5m. Though normally a dubious move, he does it so that he can have a more secure hold on the red 5p. At the start of the 2nd row, Katsumata gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen wait. By throwing the red 5p, he hopes to coax out the 6p more easily. Turns out he didn’t need the trap, as he draws the 6p on the very next turn. Katsumata wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 2/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000 and the early lead.

No More Ura San!

May 18, Game 1, E2-0

In E2-0, Katsumata is the dealer and starts out 3-shanten with two completed groups. With a penchan in hand and no ryanmen or dora, the hand doesn’t look too promising. Fortunately, no one else has a good looking hand, with Sonoda being the closest with a 2-shanten chiitoi by turn 2. By turn 5, Ooi is iishanten for chiitoi. However, with all chiitoi hand, both of them have difficulty developing their hands. As such, Sonoda tries to change his hand to a standard hand in the middle of the 2nd row. It’s a bit too late, however, as Katsumata gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 7s kanchan wait. On the very next turn, he draws the red 5s and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen wait. If Katsumata wins by tsumo on the 4s dora, he would get a baiman for a huge boost to his score. With the riichi and Uchikawa’s desperacy to get 1st this game, he makes a chii call. This call helped to shift the wall in Katsumata’s favour, as he draws the winning 7s in the middle of the 3rd row. Revealing three uradora, he gets the baiman even without the 4s dora or the sanshoku. Katsumata wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Aka 2/Ura 3 for 8,000 all.

Haitei!

May 18, Game 1, E4-0

In E4-0, Ooi starts out with three pairs, Katsumata at 3-shanten, Sonoda with two dora and Uchikawa with an ankou of white dragons. All the hands develop fairly quickly, with Katsumata getting to 2-shanten on turn 3 and Uchikawa is iishanten on turn 4. At the start of the 2nd row, Uchikawa creates a 2nd ankou to get to suuankou iishanten, a chance for a very big hand. Ooi, who needs the 1st even more than Uchikawa, rushes to go for a tanyao hand instead of chiitoi, making a chii call for a standard-hand iishanten. With a pon of the dora, Ooi is the first one to tenpai with a 25m ryanmen wait. Soon after Ooi gets to tenpai, Uchikawa calls riichi on a 8p/4m shanpon wait. Though it isn’t the fabled suuankou tenpai, winning by tsumo does give him sanankou. The only problem is that all his waits are dead in peoples’ hands. All that was left was a waiting game for Uchikawa to throw the winning tile or for Ooi to draw it himself. On the very last tile in the wall, Ooi finds the 2m to win the hand. Ooi wins with Haitei/Tanyao/Dora 3/Aka 1 for 3,000/6,000, plus Uchikawa’s riichi stick.

Bitten by Baiman

May 18, Game 1, S2-0

In S2-0, Sonoda is in last place and 14,000 behind 3rd place. Sonoda starts out with an amazing hand, holding two completed sets (including a dora ankou) and a chinitsu-looking hand. By turn 2, he calls pon on the 1m to push the chinitsu, being 2-shanten from it. On turn 3, he gets to chinitsu iishanten.

However, he does have to contend with Katsumata, who gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen wait. Approaching the middle of the 2nd row, Sonoda has the following shape:

Though it may seem like a simple 2m discard to a 369m tenpai, Sonoda decides to call kan.

If Sonoda were to find any uradora or win by rinshan, he would upgrade his hand to a sanbaiman. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get the rinshan or the uradora, but does get to tenpai with the 2m tanki wait. When Katsumata discards the 3m, the viewers felt the pain (or relief for EX Furinkazan fans) of what could have been a game-changing hand. Fortunately for Sonoda, he draws a 9m to convert his hand to a 4679m wait.

A few turns later, Katsumata throws the 9m to give Sonoda the win. Sonoda wins the hand with Chinitsu/Dora 4/Aka 1 for 16,000 to get him to 3rd place.

Vying for Second

May 18, Game 2, S4-1

In S4-1, Ooi is in 3rd place and 4,800 ahead of 2nd place Uchikawa. If Ooi doesn’t get at least 2nd in this game, he will have a very difficult time to win the championship. Ooi starts out with a decent hand, holding two completed groups and a chance at a 123 sanshoku. In order for ooi to even have a chance at getting to 2nd, he will have to stay closed with this hand. Not too long after, Ooi adds the potential to go for either sanshoku or ittsuu, a nice and flexible combination. He is not alone in his pursuit to pass, though. With a chii, Sonoda tries to push his tanyao hand to get out of last. The first of the two players to get to tenpai is Ooi, who calls riichi ona 3p penchan for sanshoku. At this juncture, Uchikawa has to decide whether to continue pushing or to fold. If he pushes, there’s a risk of dealing into Ooi. If he folds, he risks Ooi surpassing him with a winning hand. Uchikawa decides that it’s better that he doesn’t help Ooi and folds his hand. With each passing draw, Ooi loses another turn to win.

Sonoda gets to tenpai near the end of the hand and the hand ends up going to a draw with Ooi and Sonoda both tenpai.

Final Scores

Standings

For Katsumata Kenji, this is the 4th win in a row for him. With the 4th win, it ties him up for the most wins in a row (shared with Sasaki Hisato, Ooi Takaharu and Kurosawa Saki). The streak couldn’t come at a better time, as the team now takes a 67.3pts lead over the Kadokawa Sakura Knights.

Though it’s not the results that the team wanted, the 2nd place for the Kadokawa Sakura Knights keeps them within range of the top. A 1st place and a 3rd by the EX Furinkazan is enough to take top spot. Even if the EX Furinkazan get 2nd, a good 1st place will be enough.

The Shibuya Abemas got 3rd place, which does not put them in an easy spot. In order for them to take the trophy, they need to get a good 1st and kick the EX Furinkazan into 4th place.

The Akasaka Drivens, after 11 games, still can’t get a 1st place. Unless they pull off a Sasaki Hisato and break the M-League record, they aren’t even getting 3rd.

EX Furinkazan Elimination Tracker

There’s no need for this anymore. The is absolutely no chance for the team to fall to 4th. All their worries of death are behind them and now they can look at winning. The championship is only one game away, so they have to bring their best!

Intro | Game #11 | Game #12
Awards Ceremony | Final Thoughts