Game #12
Team Raiden
Konami Mahjong
Fight Club
Shibuya
Abemas
EX Furinkazan
Katsu
May 16, Game 2, E1-0
In E1-0, Katsumata is the starting north seat and starts out 4-shanten for chiitoi (5-shanten for a standard hand). By turn 5, Katsumata is already 2-shanten with a guaranteed good wait. In the middle of the second row, Katsumata draws the red 5p and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen. Though he is guaranteed at least a mangan, he is furiten after he discarded the 1s on the very first turn. In the third row, Katsumata finds the 1s and wins the hand. Katsumata wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 2 for 2,000/4,000.
Matsumoto
May 16, Game 2
In E2-1, Matsumoto is in 3rd place, 3,000 behind 2nd place dealer Hisato and 10,000 behind 1st place Katsumata.
Matsumoto starts out the hand 2-shanten with two red fives and a ryanmen. On turn 2, Matsumoto creates another ryanmen to guarantee a good wait. On turn 5, Matsumoto fills in a ryanmen to get to iishanten. On turn 7, Matsumoto gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen. At the start of the third row, Katsumata discards the 1s and deals into Matsumoto. Matsumoto wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Aka 2 for 8,000+300 plus one riichi stick, moving into 1st place.
In E3-0, Matsumoto is now the dealer and starts out 2-shanten with three completed sequences. On turn 3, he gets to iishanten and on turn 4, Matsumoto gets to tenpai on a yakuless 4s kanchan, staying dama. On turn 6, Matsumoto breaks his tenpai to accept a lone 4m, gambling on improving his wait. On turn 10, Matsumoto gets back to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen. At the start of the third row, Matsumoto draws the 6s and wins the hand. Matsumoto wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 1 for 2,600 all.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s50_p752
In E3-1, Matsumoto starts out 4-shanten with a pair of regular 4s and no value to be seen. In the first row, Matsumoto completes a sequences, a red 5s and a third 4s, getting to iishanten. During the same period, Hisato (who gets an ankou of the 8s dora) calls pon on the red dragon and gets to iishanten. In the second row, Hisato calls pon on the 9s and gets to tenpai on a 2p kanchan.
After Hisato gets to tenpai, Matsumoto makes a pair and draws another 4s to create a 4s ankou and a 456s sequence. Being tenpai, Matsumoto gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen.
Both Matsumoto and Hisato draw and discard, hoping to get their winning tile. Then, at the end of the second row, Hisato adds toitoi and waits on an east/3p shanpon from mangan minimum. Unfortunately, Hisato draws and discards the red 5m and deals into Matsumoto.
With the flip of the uradora, Matsumoto’s four 4s miraculously becomes dora and more than doubles the hand’s value. Matsumoto wins with Riichi/Aka 2/Ura 4 for 18,000+300 to go up to 57,400.
Matsumoto Again
May 16, Game 2
In S3-0, Matsumoto is the dealer again and trying to widen his lead even further. Matsumoto starts out the hand 3-shanten with a penchan, kanchan and ryanmen. On turn 3, Matsumoto fills in the kanchan to get to 2-shanten. On turn 7, Matsumoto draws a red 5m double dora to get to iishanten. In the middle of the second row, Matsumoto gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3s penchan.
Within the go-around, Kurosawa gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 2p tanki. Unfortunately, she ends up drawing and discarding the 3s at the end of the second row and deals into Matsumoto.
Matsumoto wins the hand with Riichi/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 7,700 plus one riichi stick.
In S3-1, Matsumoto starts out the hand 4-shanten with a pair of green dragons and a connected red 5m. In the first row, Matsumoto creates a whole sequence and another ryanmen, getting to iishanten by the end of the row. As Matsumoto waits, Hisato draws a dora 3p to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3m penchan.
Being the dealer with a guaranteed good wait and iishanten, Matsumoto pushes with no risk of falling out of 1st. Two turns later, Matsumoto gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen .Near the middle of the third row, Matsumoto draws the 5s and wins the hand. Matsumoto wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 6,000+100 all plus one riichi stick, bringing Matsumoto’s score up to 85,700.
Open and Shut Case
May 16, Game 2, S4-0
In S4-0, Matsumoto has the clear lead and wants to finish the game quickly.
He starts out the hand 2-shanten with good shapes. On turn 2, Matsumoto draws a 4m and is an 8m away from an ittsuu. To make his hand as fast as possible, he calls chii on the 1s to get to tenpai on an 8m kanchan. On his next draw, he finds the 8m and wins the hand. Matsumoto wins with Ittsuu only for 300/500, finishing the game with 86,800.
Final Scores
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-15_s10_p230
Twitter: https://twitter.com/m_league_jikkyo/status/1658464822013599744
Standings
After their lead came under threat in the previous game, the Matsumoto and the Shibuya Abemas responded. With 6 riichi calls and 7 hands won, Matsumoto won +106.8pts and made sure that his opponents didn’t gain a single point.
With Matsumoto’s triple-digit win, the Shibuya Abemas are the big winner of the day with +101.0pts on the day. However, Takizawa’s win and his suuankou helped provide some competition and helped the 2nd place Konami Mahjong Fight Club finish the day gaining +47.3pts. Unfortunately, the double 4th for Team Raiden puts them back quite a bit and they are now closer to 4th than they are to 1st. However, with two days still to go, anything is possible.
That’s all for this last Monday of the season! In previous years, this would have been the end of the finals. But, we get four more games this year! How will the teams capitalize on this extra M-League time? Can the Shibuya Abemas hold on? Can the EX Furinkazan sneak into a prize money spot? Will we see another yakuman? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see!
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