M-League 2021-22 Finals: Games #9-10

Game #10

Yakuman Tenpai Try

April 25, Game 2, E1-0

In E1-0, Kayamori is trying to maintain her team’s 1st place standing, while Matsumoto is trying to get his team out of 3rd place in the standings. Kayamori starts the hand out 3-shanten with an ankou of red dragons and Matsumoto starts out 2-shanten for chiitoi with a red 5m. Kayamori’s hand develops quite quickly drawing useful tiles on almost every draw and gets to tenpai on turn 6, calling riichi on a 14m ryanmen.

On the ippatsu turn, Matsumoto draws a 3p ankou. with two ankous and three pairs, he is iishanten for suuankou if he can keep his hand closed. However, with a 2m and a dangerous 4m in his hand, getting to suuankou tenpai with his current hand is instant death. For his first discard, he decides to throw the 2m, holding a 455m shape that could be used outside of toitoi. In the middle of the 2nd row, Takamiya adds pressure on the table, calling riichi on a 69p ryanmen.

On the ippatsu turn, Matsumoto draws a third ankou. Chasing his dream and spelling his death, Matsumoto calls riichi and throws the 4m, getting to tenpai on a 5m/9p shanpon. With the throw, Matsumoto deals into Kayamori.

Kayamori wins the hand with Riichi/Red Dragon/Dora 3 for 8,000 (plus Takamiya’s riichi stick) for the early lead.

4,200 Bonus

April 25, Game 2, S1-4

After four hands going to a draw, the action continued in S1-4. In S1-4, Matsumot is in 4th place and looking to grab the points and move up. He starts out the hand 3-shanten with a pair of easts. With tanyao being one of the fastest ways to get to tenpai, he aims for it by making a call and getting rid of his terminals and honours on turn 4. On turn 5, he makes another call for iishanten. In the middle of the 2nd row, Matsumoto makes a third call and gets to tenpai on a 235m wait. Even as Takamiya gets to tenpai and calls riichi near the end of the 2nd row, Matsumoto pushes onward, especially with very few tiles available to fold with and so many points up for grabs. In the 3rd row, Takamiya draws and discards the 3m, dealing into Matsumoto. Matsumoto wins the hand wtih Tanyao only for 1,000+1,200. With the two richi sticks left over from the previous hand and Takamiya’s stick from this hand, the bonus sticks helped increase his hand’s score more than fivefold.

Dora San

April 25, Game 2, S2-0

In S2-0, Hori is the dealer and sitting in 2nd place. He starts the hand out quite well, sitting iishanten with a 7p dora. Though he is iishanten, he has an annoying penchan in his hand. On turn 3, he gets rid of the penchan and gives himself the flexibility to accept another dora. At the start of the 2nd row, Hori draws the 7p dora and creates a ryanmen. A turn later, Hori calls pon to get to tenpai on a 58p ryanmen. Later in the row, he draws a 3rd dora and changes his wait to a 47p/2s wait. Within the go-around Takamiya draws and discards the 2s, dealing into Hori. Hori wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 3 for 12,000, putting him squarely in 1st place.

Tie

April 25, Game 2, S4-0

In S4-0, Kayamori and the dealer Matsumoto are tied for 2nd place. Looking around the table from the start, Hori has the superior hand, holding pairs of souths and green dragons, being 2-shanten for chiitoi. On turn 4, Hori draws a fifth pair. On turn 6, Hori gets to tenpai on an 8s tanki. Within one go-around, Takamiya discards the 8s and deals into Hori. Hori wins the hand with Chiitoi only for 1,600.

With the win, Hori takes first place with 45,400, while both Matsumoto and Kayamori are tied for 2nd place with 23,600, a rare sight in M-League.

Final Scores

Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-12_s1_p215
Twitter: https://twitter.com/m_league_jikkyo/status/1518598323204427776

Standings

This win was a big win for the Kadokawa Sakura Knights. By making sure that Kayamori didn’t become the lone 2nd place player, Hori and the team gained just enough points to move ahead of the Sega Sammy Phoenix. The result for both Kayamori and Matsumoto meant that neither of them made any gains, only losses against the Sakura Knights. As for the Konami Mahjong Fight Club, they just keep dropping.

And that’s all for Day 5! Tuesday will be the last day of the M-League 2021-22 M-League season! Which team will be the one to hoist the plate? Will the Kadokawa Sakura Knights or the Sega Sammy Phoenix come out on top in the close battle like the EX Furinkazan last season? Or will the Shibuya Abemas have an amazing final day to jump up from 3rd like the U-Next Pirates did two seasons ago? Or will the Konami Mahjong Fght Club Write an amazing new chapter in the history books to come from behind? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see! Tuesday’s broadcast will begin 2 hours earlier than usual (at 1700 JST/5:00 PM JST), so see you then!

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