Highlights
Defending the Top
April 5, Game 1, S4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p1001
In S4-1, Date is the dealer and in 1st place, 16,300 ahead of 2nd place. Though it is a big lead, a haneman tsumo from 2nd place Kayamori would mean Date drops down to 2nd. With that in mind, Date looked at her 3-shanten hand with two red dora and moved forward with the intention of maintaining her lead. At the end of the 1st row, Date is 2-shanten with a hand poised for pinfu or tanyao. As Date moved forward, so did Kayamori. For Kayamori, she was iishanten at the end of the 1st row with two dora. With a riichi, tsumo and an uradora, it would be enough for her to take the top spot. At the start of the 2nd row, she set her hand up to add iipeikou. At the start of the 3rd row, Kayamori got to tenpai and called riichi on a 47s ryanmen, set to take 1st on a tsumo.
At this point, Date is still 2-shanten. Though she could try to let the hand go to a draw, a more sure way of preventing Kayamori to win is to win herself. On the ippatsu turn, she calls chii on a 4s to get to iishanten. She tries to aim for tanyao, but the 69p ryanmen has the chance of causing problems.
On the very next turn, Date draws the 6p to get to tenpai on a 25m ryanmen.
Right after, Kayamori draws and discards the red 5m and deals into Date.
Date wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 3 for 12,000+300 (plus two riichi stick) to go above 60,000 and firmly securing her win.
Dora Tanki
April 5, Game 2, S1-2
In S1-2, Takamiya is in 3rd place and vying to claim the 2,600 in bonus sticks on the table. She starts the hand out 2-shanten with an isolated white dragon dora. On turn 5, Takamiya gets to iishanten. At the end of the 1st row, Takamiya draws to tenpai and calls riichi on a white dragon dora tanki. With nobody ever planning on dropping a dora, Takamiya’s only chance of winning is to draw it herself. And looking around the table, there was only one white dragon left in the wall. In the middle of the 2nd row, she finds that last white dragon to win the hand. Takamiya wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 2/Ura 1 for 2,000+200/4,000+200 (plus two riichi stick) to move her within 2,400 of the lead.
Yakuman Tenpai?!
April 5, Game 2, S2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p1002
In S2-1, Takamiya is just 2,400 from the lead and starts out 2-shanten with two completed groups. In the 1st row, her hand started to gain more pairs, having three pairs and a triple on turn 4. At the start of the 2nd row, Aki disturbs the quiet of the table with a riichi on a 7m kanchan for mangan minimum.
Takamiya is still 2-shanten at this point, still holding the three pairs and the triplet. A turn after the riichi, Takamiya draws the south dora, largely dampening her chances of winning the hand. Never planning on discarding it, she throws the safest tiles that she has. In the middle of the row, she forms a second triplet, getting to iishanten. At the end of the 3rd row, she draws a 3rd triplet, putting her iishanten for a potential suuankou that could even be a suuankou tanki! At the start of the 3rd row, she pairs up the south and calls riichi on a 4m/south shanpon. hoping for tsumo to win a suuankou yakuman. Looking around the table, both Aki and Takamiya had their tiles dwindling. Takamiya manages to call kan for an extra draw, but misses. By the middle of the row, both of them only had one tile to hope for. But, it only takes one to win.
In the end, the hand went to a draw with the two of them tenpai and the chances of another Konami yakuman were gone.
No More Ura San
April 7, Game 1, E1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p1011
In E1-0, Hori is the south seat and trying to make sure his team secures a spot in the finals. He starts the hand off at 3-shanten with a pair of 1p dora. He doesn’t improve his hand that much by the end of the 1st row, only getting to 2-shanten with no improved shapes. At the start of the 2nd row, Hori pairs up a white dragon and at the end of the row, Hori gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a white dragon/1p shanpon for mangan minimum. He is chased by Ishibashi near the end of the hand, but Hori manages to draw the white dragon himself soon after. With his hand valued a five hand, he is able to double his hand value by flipping the red dragon, making his triplet of white dragons dora. Hori wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/White Dragon/Dora 2/Ura 3 for 4,000/8,000 (plus Ishibashi’s riichi stick) to take the early lead
Takame
April 7, Game 1, E3-0
In E3-0, Hori is the dealer in 1st place, 12,300 ahead of 2nd place. He starts off the hand4-shanten with a red 5p and a good chance at a 567 sanshoku. By the end of the 1st row, he gets to 2-shanten and still has the chance for sanshoku. In the middle of the 2nd row, he gets to iishanten. Converting his hand to pinfu and tanyao, he gets rid of his white dragon pair at the end of the 2nd row. In the 3rd row, Hori gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 58s ryanmen without sanshoku. Two turns later, he gets the 567 sanshoku chance. Now, Hori can get sanshoku if he can get the 5s and get a mangan (haneman if he can draw it himself). On Hori’s last draw, he finds the red 5s to win the hand. Hori wins with Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Sanshoku/Aka 2 for 6,000 all, putting him above 50,000.
Shousangen
April 7, Game 1, S1-0
In S1-0, Hori is in 1st place, more than 40,000 ahead of 2nd place. He starts out at 3-shanten with pairs of the green and white dragon, as well as a single red dragon. With all the dragons, there’s a chance for Hori to get shousangen or daisangen. Early on, Hori calls pon on the green dragon. Soon after, Hori calls chii to get to iishanten. In the middle of the 2nd row, he draws the white dragon and gets to tenpai on a red dragon tanki for hanemnan minimum. At the end of the row, Uotani discards the red dragon and deals into Hori. Hori wins the hand with Honitsu/Green Dragon/White Dragon/Shousangen for 12,000.
Ura Ura
April 7, Game 1, S2-0
In S2-0, Ishibashi is in the negatives and 7,400 from 3rd place. He starts out the hand 3-shanten with a single 1s dora in hand. On turn 4, Ishibashi gets to iishanten. At the end of the 1st row, Ishibashi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36s ryanmen. On the ippatsu turn, Hori tries to call riichi by throwing the 6s, but ends up dealing into Ishibashi. Flipping two uradora, Ishibashi wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 2 for 12,000. With luck timing and lucky ura, Ishibashi was able to multiply his hand value threefold to get to 3rd place.
Takeback
April 7, Game 1, S3-0
In S3-0, Uotani is in 4th place and behind by 4,600 after getting passed by Ishibashi. Uotani starts out 3-shanten with a pair of green dragons, a pair of dora and a red 5s. In the first row, Uotani adds to the green dragon pair, calls pon and gets to tenpai on a 4s kanchan. Near the start of the 3rd row, Uotani draws the 4s to win the hand. Uotani wins with Green Dragon/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000 to take back 3rd place.
4th to 1st
April 7, Game 2, E4-2
In E4-2, Kobayashi is in 4th place, 5,600 from 3rd and 12,500 from 1st. He starts his hand out 3-shanten with a 3m dora. On turn 2, he fills a ryanmen. On turn 4, Kobayashi completes a sanmenchan. On turn 6, Kobayashi creates a sanmenchan and calls riichi on a 258p wait. He misses through the whole 2nd row, but he draws the 8p at the start of the 3rd row to win the hand. Flipping two uradora, Kobayashi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 2 for 3,000+200/6,000+200. With the win, Kobayashi jumps all the way to 1st place.
Challenger
April 7, Game 2, S3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p1013
In S3-1, Kondo is the dealer in 3rd place and 11,200 behind 1st place. He starts the hand out 3-shanten with a decent chance at pinfu. On turn 2, he draws a red 5s for value. He fill a kanchan on turn 7 and on turn 8, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69m ryanmen. Near the end of the 2nd row, Kondo draws the 9m to win the hand. Flipping an uradora, Kondo wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 4,000+100 all, taking the lead.
Closing the Game
April 7, Game 2
In S3-2, Kobayashi is in 2nd place and 5,200 behind 1st place Kondo. With the U-Next Pirates currently in 5th place and behind the 4th place Phoenix, it is imperative that Kobayashi win this game (or at least place ahead of Kondo). He starts out the hand at 4-shanten with a pair of green dragons and a red 5m. In the middle of the 1st row, he calls pon on the green dragon to get to 2-shanten. Soon after, Kobayashi fills in a kanchan to get to iishanten. Near the start of the 2nd row, Kobayashi gets to tenpai on a 9p tanki. Uchikawa puts pressure on the table by calling riichi in the middle of the 2nd row, waiting on a 5m kanchan. During this period, Kobayashi switches from a 9p to a 5p to a 36m nobetan to a 47m ryanmen. In the middle of the 3rd row, Kobayashi throws the 7m and deals into Kobayashi. Kobayashi wins the hand with Green Dragon/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 3,900+600, plus Uchikawa’s riichi stick. With the riichi stick and the bonus points, Kobayashi moves ahead and takes the lead by 300 points.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p1014
In S4-0, Kobayashi needs to win the hand to keep his 1st place. He starts out the hand with a pair of souths at 3-shanten. On turn 3, Kobayashi gets to 2-shanten with a ryanmen. On turn 5, Kobayashi gets to iishanten, still waiting to call pon on the south. By the end of the 1st row, Kobayashi is able to call pon on the south to get to tenpai on a 36p ryanmen. Soon after, he rons the 6p off of Matsumoto to win the hand. Kobayashi wins with South only for 1,000 to win the game.
Dama Chiitoi
April 8, Game 1, S3-5
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p1021
In S3-5, the scores are close, with 4th place Matsugase only 5,900 behind 1st place Ishibashi. Matsugase starts out his hand 3-shanten for both chiitoi and a standard hand. On turn 2, Matsugase draws a 4th pair. On turn 5, he draws a 5th pair by drawing a red 5s to get to iishanten. At the start of the 3rd row, Matsugase draws a 6th pair to get to tenpai, electing to wait on the 5m dora and staying dama. With two dora and two red dora, his hand is already haneman without calling riichi.
At the end of the 2nd row, Ishibashi draws a 5m dora. Because Ishibashi is the dealer and not yet tenpai, he discards the dora to keep the highest tile accept, dealing into Matsugase.
Matsugase wins the hand with Chiitoi/Dora 2/Aka 2 for 12,000+1,500 (plus one riichi stick), moving Matsugase to 1st and Ishibashi to 4th.
East 1
April 8, Game 2
In E1-0, Katsumata has a lot of work to do. To move into playoff position in this final game, Katsumata will have to get 115,900 points (there are a few other ways, but they are even harder). With the stage set, Katsumata got to work. In E1-0, Katsumata fought against a turn 7 riichi from Kobayashi and got to tenpai near the end of the hand. He tried to get points by gambling o the ippatsu turn, but he had to settle with a ryuukyoku with him and Kobayashi in tenpai.
In E1-1, Katsumata is 2-shanten with his haipai. His hand came together quickly, being iishanten on turn 2 and made it a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten on turn 3. On turn 9, Katsumata gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen for mangan minimum. In the middle of the 3rd row, Katsumata draws the 7p to win the hand. Katsumata wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Iipeikou/Dora 1 for 4,000+100 all (plus two riichi sticks) to take a sizeable lead.
In E1-2, Katsumata starts out 3-shanten with four ryanmens to choose from. By the end of the 1st row, Katsumata was 2-shanten with the potential for a sanmenchan. In the 2nd row, Katsumata draws a red 5m and, in the middle of the row, gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen. At the start of the 3rd row, Katsumata draws the takame 6s to win the hand. Katsumata wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 6,000+200 all. With the win, Katsumata breaks the 50,000 mark and is close to breaking 60,000.
In E1-3, Katsumata starts out 3-shanten again, but this time lacking in value. Within the 1st row, Kobayashi tries to end to Katsumata’s reign by calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen. On the ippatsu turn, Katsumata gets to 2-shanten for chiitoi and throws the only safe tile he has. The very next turn, he gets to iishanten. Through the next few turns, he converts his chiitoi hand to a standard hand and manages to get to tenpai at the start of the 3rd row on a 47p ryanmen. Within the ippatsu turn, Kobayashi draws and drops the 7p, dealing into Katsumata. Katsumata wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Iipeikou/Ura 1 for 12,000+900, breaking the 60,000 and 70,000 mark simultaneously, putting him just a dealer yakuman away from a spot in the finals.
In E1-4, Katsumata starts out 3-shanten yet again. By turn 3, he gets to 2-shanten for both chiitoi and a standard hand. In the middle of the 2nd row, Katsumata gets to iishanten and guaranteed tanyao. Two turns later, he gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 6s kanchan (choosing the more expensive wait over the wider wait). A few turns later, he switches back to the better wait and calls riichi. Unfortunately for him, it was a bit late. The hand ended up going to a draw with Katsumata and Kobayashi tenpai.
In E1-5, Katsumata ended up losing his dealership to a 3,200 point hand, but Katsumata’s impact was overwhelming. Just in East 1, Katsumata got to 72,800, almost tripling his starting score and gave hope to all EX Furinkazan fans and put fear into all the other teams.
Haitei
April 8, Game 2, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s30_p1023
In E4-0, Kobayashi is desperate, being in the negatives and needing to be at 68,600 to make the finals. He starts out with an absolutely atrocious hand, being 5-shanten (6-shanten from a standard hand) with a red 5p for value. After getting rid of the junk, Kobayashi was 3-shanten at the end of the 1st row with two ryanmens. In the 2nd row, Kobayashi paired up his double east for 2-shanten, called pon for iishanten and waited patiently with his two ryanmens. Soon after, Kobayashi was challenged by 3rd place Ooi, who called riichi on a 36m ryanmen.
With no other choice, Kobayashi kept pushing. In the 3rd row, Kobayashi calls chii to get to tenpai on a 47s ryanmen.
With the wall dwindling, Katsumata manages to get to tenpai as well, waiting on a 5s and later calls riichi on a 9p tanki with the hopes that one of his opponents throws his winning tile.
On the very last draw, Kobayashi finds the 4s to win the hand. Kobayashi wins with Haitei/Double East/Red Dora 1 for 4,000 all (plus two riichi stick), moving him a bit closer to his goal.
The Final Hand
April 8, Game 2, S4-1
Throughout the game, both Ooi and Sasaki have tried to keep Kobayashi and Katsumata away so they can secure their spots in the finals. With the smallest of hands, they moved the game forward. In S4-1, they only had to do it one more time to guarantee their advancement. Holding an ankou of his seat wind west, as well as pair of white dragons, it looked like he was going to end the game with this hand. For Ooi, he was 3-shanten with a pair of 6p dora and a red 5m. The first move was made by Ooi, who called chii to get to tanyao iishanten. Soon after, Sasaki made a chii to get to tenpai on an 8p kanchan.
With Sasaki’s discarded tile, Ooi called chii to get himself to tenpai on a 47p ryanmen.
A few turns later, Sasaki drew the 8p, winning with West only and ending the game. With the ending the Kadokawa Sakura Knights, Konami Mahjong Fight Club, Shibuya Abemas and Sega Sammy Phoenix were confirmed to be the four teams that will advance to the finals.
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