Game #12
Akasaka
Drivens
Shibuya
Abemas
Kadokawa
Sakura Knights
EX Furinkazan
Unfortunate Ippatsu Draw
May 18, Game 2, E1-0
In E1-0, the players know what scores they have to get. The Kadokawa Sakura Knight and Shibuya Abemas have to get 1st place, the EX Furinkazan have to defend their standing and Murakami is there for fun. Murakami the Dealer starts out the closest to tenpai, holding three ryanmen shapes and is 2-shanten with a dora and a red dora. On turn 2, Murakami pairs up the dora and Katsumata gets to 2-shanten for chiitoi. The first player to get to tenpai is Katsumata who stays dama on a white dragon wait. He ends up switching his wait through the 2nd row, going to a 3s tanki to a 1m tanki and call riichi. After Katsumata’s riichi, Murakami draws a 4th 7p dora and calls kan. Though it didn’t get him to tenpai, it told everyone that he has a scary hand. Even when Uchikawa tries to push, he ends up bailing in the 3rd row due to the precarity of the situation. On Murakami’s 2nd last draw, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14p ryanmen wait with two left in the wall. After two draws, the 14p wait is dead. On Murakami’s ippatsu turn, he draws the 1m and deals into Katsumata .
Katsumata wins the hand for Riichi/Chiitoi/Ura 2 for 8,000, plus the riichi stick for the early lead.
Hit!
May 18, Game 2, E2-1
In E2-1, Ooi and Murakami both have fast hands, getting to iishanten on turn 2 and turn 3, respectively. By the end of the row, Uchikawa joins in on the iishanten party. The first player to get to tenpai is Ooi, who calls riichi and waits on a 7p kanchan at the start of the 2nd row. With a call from Murakami, he gets to tenpai for his honitsu and waits on a 47p/south wait. A few turns later, he changes it to a 6p/south shanpon wait. In the middle of the 3rd row, Uchikawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69p nobetan. Soon after, Ooi draws the south and deals into Murakami. Murakami wins the hand with South/Honitsu for 5,200+300, plus the two riichi sticks.
The hand was a tragic blow to Ooi’s score and killed his dealer turn, ruining his chances of making it to the top.
Killing the Dealer Turn
May 18, Game 2, E3-1
In E3-1, Katsumata is iishanten for chiitoi by turn 2, Uchikawa gets there at the end of the 1st row and Ooi joins in soon after. Though Murakami’s hand started out as looking like a kokushi, he starts to convert it to a honitsu. In the middle of the 2nd row, Murakami calls pon on the west and later on the easts, securing both the seat and round wind. In the 3rd row, as everyone struggles at iishanten, Murakami makes a 3rd call in the middle of the 3rd row to get to tenpai on a 25p ryanmen wait. Even though Katsumata gets to tenpai soon after that, Murakami draws his winning tile the very next turn. Murakami wins the hand with East/West/Honitsu for 2,000+100/4,000+100, taking two riichi sticks and going from 3rd to 1st place.
With Uchikawa being the dealer that hand, he got hit with a dealer penalty and drops down to 3rd place, which is not where he wants to be.
Forced to Push
May 18, Game 2, E4-0
In E4-0, most of the players deal with difficult hands, but Uchikawa has an ankou of 6p, a pair of 6s dora and a pair of easts, making his hand by the the most favourable. On turn 3, Uchikawa gets to iishanten for chiitoi. With the flexibility of his ankou, he gets to iishanten for toitoi on turn 5 with a chance at suuankou. If Uchikawa can draw the 5m, 3p or 6s dora, then he would have his chance at a comeback. When the 3p is discarded, Uchikawa calls pon to get to tenpai on a 5m/6s shanpon wait. With their positions the way they are, Ooi and Murakami keep pushing. In the middle of the 2nd row, Murakami gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 5p/8m shanpon wait. Two turns later, Uchikawa draws the red 5p.
With his hand being a guaranteed mangan and a chance at baiman if he tsumos the 6s, he has a difficult decision to make. Since this is his best chance to get to 1st place, he decides to go for it and push the 5p, dealing into Murakami. Murakami wins the hand with Riichi/Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 2 for 12,000.
With the haneman deal-in, it puts Uchikawa into last place and Murakami far into 1st place, effectively killing the Kadokawa Sakura Knights’ chances of getting to the top.
Ending Things Quickly
May 18, Game 2
With the Akasaka Drivens being in 1st place with a good lead and the EX Furinkazan in 2nd place with a decent gap between them and their nearest rivals, both of them try to end the game quickly.
In S1-0, Katsumata gets to iishanten on turn 2 and is the first to tenpai on a 69m ryanmen wait at the near the middle of the 2nd row. Ooi ends up dealing the 9m into Katsumata’s Pinfu only hand to move the game to South 2.
In S2-0, Murakami calls pon on the green dragon dora at the end of the 1st row to get to tenpai on a 47s ryanmen wait. With no choice but to keep pushing on his dealer turn, Uchikawa discards the 7s and deals into Murakami. Murakami wins with Green Dragon/Dora 3 for 8,000 and to move the game to South 3.
In S3-0, Katsumata starts out with a pair of double souths. When the souths are discarded at t start of the 2nd row, Katsumata calls pon to get to tenpai on a 69s ryanmen wait. Murakami deals in the 6s a few turn later to give Katsumata the win. Katsumata wins with Double South/Aka 1 for 3,900 and moves the game to South 4.
The Final Hand
May 18, Game 2, S4-0
With the last hand of the regular season, Katsumata is almost guaranteed to bring the championship for the EX Furinkazan. However, there is a more interesting battle going on for 2nd place. If the game were to end right then and there, the Kadokawa Sakura Knights would take a 1.7pts lead over the Shibuya Abemas to take 2nd place. Therefore, Uchikawa wants to win any hand to just end the game and Ooi wants to win any 2 han hand to get 2nd place in the standings.
As we look around the table, Murakami is 2-shanten with his starting hand and Uchikawa calls pon on the north instantly to give him a yaku and push for the quickest win possible. On Uchikawa’s very next draw, he gets to tenpai and waits on a 3p penchan. On turn 4, Murakami gets to iishanten with a ryanmen and a ryankan shape. By the end of the 1st row, Murakami gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 58s ryanmen wait. Two turns later, Murakami draws the 8s to win the hand. Murakami wins with Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1 for 1,300/2,600 and to secure the team’s first win of the finals.
The Celebration
With Katsumata’s 2nd place, wins the team the championship. All the players congratulate Katsumata on the championship team as they leave the table. As Katsumata steps back to look at the table, his teammates, the coach and the rest of the EX Furinkazan staff come into the studio and give Katsumata a round of applause for his performance and they all come together to pose with the M-League Championship Plate before the Awards Ceremony.
Final Scores
Standings
The final game is finished and new champion is crowned. With the EX Furinkazan placing 2nd in the game and staying in front of their two rivals, they keep 1st place in the standings and take the plate. It’s truly an incredible story. The team started off as the 4th place team in the finals, 309.9pts behind 1st place. Then Katsumata kept bringing win after win after win and they end up in 1st place. He is truly the MVP of the finals.
In second place in the standings are the Kadokawa Sakura Knights. Though placing 4th in the last game, their standings going into the game really helped. With the 2nd place win, they win 20 million yen to be split by the team.
In third place in the standings are the Shibuya Abemas. They started out in 1st place after the regular season, 1st place after the semifinals and they fall to 3rd in the end. What makes it even more painful for them is they missed out on 10 million extra yen because of 1.7pts. With their 3rd place results, they will have to settle with 10 million yen as their prize. This 3rd place marks the team’s third 3rd place in as many years.
And, in 4th place, is the Akasaka Drivens. Truly a painful finals for them. They do end off on a high note with a 1st place on their very last game. Though they don’t receive any cash prize, they are safe from being forced to change up their team for two years.
EX Furinkazan Elimination Tracker
1st!
▲+164.3pts
(251.1pts ahead of 4th)
Katsumata
▲+1032.5
pts
Takizawa
+421.3pts
Nikaido
-201.1pts
They’ve done it! They went from almost dead to champions! Props to Katsumata for the incredible wins and Takizawa and Nikaido for the incredible support. The team survives another year and they will be adding one more player to the roster this off-season. It will be exciting to see what they will be able to bring next season and if they can make it back-to-back!
Intro | Game #11 | Game #12
Awards Ceremony | Final Thoughts
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