Game #6
Shibuya
Abemas
Team Raiden
Konami Mahjong
Fight Club
EX Furinkazan
3s
May 11, Game 2, E1-0
In E1-0, Setokuma is the starting dealer and has the chance to start a big dealer rampage. Kuma Kuma Time, if you will.
Setokuma starts out the hand. 3-shanten with a two dora 4m, a 36s ryanmen and a 7s penchan. In the first row, Setokuma switches the penchan for a 224p shape, but is otherwise unable to make progress. In the second row, he makes a 9s ankou and gets himself to a perfect iishanten. To add some potential extra value, he draws a red 5m. At the start of the third row, he draws a 6m, calls riichi by discarding a 4m and waits on a 36s ryanmen. Near the end of the hand, on the second-last tile of the wall, he draws the 3s and wins the hand. Setokuma wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 4,000 all.
Ippatsu
May 11, Game 2, E2-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s50_p749
In E2-2, Matsumoto is the dealer and 16,000 behind 1st place Setokuma. With 2,600 in bonus sticks available to the next winner, a mangan tsumo will get him into 1st place with a little extra.
Matsumoto starts out the hand 3-shanten with a single 6p for value. He makes pairs of 6, 9m and 3s in the first row to also have chiitoi options, but he is still stuck at 3-shanten after six turns. In the next row, he gets rid of the 9m pair, shifts to tanyao and gets to a wide iishanten by the end of the row. Around the same time, Takamiya makes a call and gets to tenpai on a 6p/7p shanpon for mangan minimum.
Soon after, Matsumoto gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen. If Matsumoto wins on the 5m, he will add iipeikou to his hand and have a mangan minimum hand. On his very next draw, Matsumoto finds the 5m and wins the hand. Matsumoto wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Dora 1 for 6,000+200 all plus two riichi sticks, moving him into 1st place.
Wide Wait
May 11, Game 2, E2-3
In E2-3, Setokuma is in 2nd place after Matsumoto passed him the previous hand. Being 10,800 behind Matsumoto, a mangan tsumo would be enough to move back into 1st.
Setokuma starts out the hand 2-shanten with two red fives and a clear path to pinfu and a likely tanyao. On turn 2, he gets to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten to get iishanten. Later on, he draws a 2p to have a 147p sanmenchan. At the end of the row, Setokuma gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 147p wait, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins.
Soon after, Katsumata gets to tenpai for chiitoi with a 6s tanki. A turn later, he switches his wait to a 6m tanki and remains dama.
After Katsumata, Takamiya gets to tenpai on a 25m ryanmen and calls riichi.
Though two other players are in tenpai, Setokuma has the advantage through the number of waits. With Katsumata drawing a dangerous tile during the ippatsu round, he folds. On Setokuma’s draw, he finds the 1p and wins the hand. Setokuma wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 2 for 2,000+300/4,000+300 plus one riichi stick to move into 1st.
Menhon
May 11, Game 2, S1-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s20_p743
In S1-1, Katsumata is in 3rd place and trailing 2nd place Matsumoto by 14,100. To start getting closer, he needs to get at least a limit hand.
Katsumata starts out the hand 4-shanten with a pair of green dragons and a lot of isolated tiles. In fact, he was 4-shanten for both a standard hand and kokushi with his first 14 tiles.
In the first row, he got rid of some of the isolated terminals and honours. With each draw, he seemed to get more and more pinzu. By the end of the first row, he had an ankou of 9p and sitting 2-shanten. When he draws a 4p on turn 7, he secures honitsu by getting rid of his 9s pair. As Katsumata converts his hand, Takamiya and Matsumoto get to work on speeding up their own hands. In the middle of the second row, Takamiya calls pon on the 8p dora to aim for tanyao and Matsumoto calls pon on the south to secure a yakuhai and get to tenpai on a 47s ryanmen.
In the third row, Takamiya also get to tenpai and waits on a 36s ryanmen.
Two turns after that, Katsumata has finally gotten to honitsu tenpai. Though, Katsumata can discard the green dragon and be chuuren tenpai with any pinzu draw, he chooses the more reasonable option of being tenpai now and wait on a 369p/green dragon wait. Right after, Setokuma discards the 6p trying to avoid Matsumoto and Takamiya and deals into Katsumata. Katsumata wins the hand with Honitsu/Dora 1 for 8,000+300.
Quick Return
May 11, Game 2, S3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s40_p755
In S3-1, Takamiya is the dealer in 4th place, 12,700 behind 3rd place Katsumata. With a mangan tsumo, she can move into 3rd and be 2,100 from the lead.
Takamiya starts out with a good 3-shanten hand with two ryanmens and tanyao guaranteed. On turn 2, she draws the red 5s to fill in a kanchan and get to 2-shanten. On turn 3, she fills in a ryanmen and gets to iishanten, waiting on 5 different tiles for tenpai. On turn 5, she draws a 5s to complete a 456s iipeikou and calls riichi on a 3m kanchan, guaranteed at least a mangan if she wins. Two turns later, she gets the 3m and wins the hand. Takamiya wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Iipeikou/Aka 1 for 4,000+100 all.
Mission Complete
May 11, Game 2, S4-0
In S4-0, Matsumoto is in 1st place and holding a 3,000 lead over 2nd place Takamiya. Any hand will give the Shibuya Abemas back-to-back wins on the day and give them a wider lead in the standings.
Though Matsumoto is 3-shanten with two completed sequences and a red 5p, the 1m pair is forcing him to either find a yakuhai or wait for riichi. His first three draws seem to be pushing him towards pinfu, giving him a ryanmen for a good wait. Then, on turn 4, he draws a second green dragon to give him a yakuhai candidate and get him to iishanten. After many turns of waiting, Matsumoto is able to make a chii to get to tenpai on a green dragon/4m shanpon. With no yaku secured, Matsumoto’s only way to win is off the green dragon.
Near the middle of the third row, Katsumata the dealer challenges the table by calling riichi and waiting on a 58m ryanmen. Unfortunately, just like S3-0 of the previous game, Katsumata would draw and discard Matsumoto’s winning tile and deal in.
Matsumoto wins the hand with Green Dragon/Aka 1 for 2,000 plus a riichi stick, completing the mission of getting 1st.
Final Scores
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-15_s10_p224
Twitter: https://twitter.com/m_league_jikkyo/status/1656662142811275264
Standings
With a second win in a row for the Shibuya Abemas, the team widens its lead over the competition, now 142.1pts ahead of 2nd. Not surprisingly, the team was the only gaining team of the day with a +108.9pts gain. Despite Katsumata’s best efforts, the EX Furinkazan were the biggest droppers of the day with -64.8pts.
Only five more days left in the finals! The Shibuya Abemas seem to be pulling ahead, but there is still time for the other teams to catch up. Which team will prove to be their biggest challenge? Can the team defend the lead? Can Shibukawa and Okada match the UK duo’s energy tomorrow? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see!
M-League Watch 