Game #14
Team Raiden
Konami Mahjong
Fight Club
EX Furinkazan
Shibuya
Abemas
Setokuma Start
May 18, Game 2, E1-0
In E1-0, Setokuma is the starting dealer and is trying to keep the EX Furinkazan away from the podium.
Setokuma starts out the hand 3-shanten with a connected dora 6s for value. In the first row, he fills in a ryanmen to secure the 6s and creates an 8s kanchan to get to iishanten. On turn 6, he fills in a penchan to get to tenpai and calls riichi on an 8s kanchan. With nothing to good to challenge the dealer riichi, his opponents mostly folded. After many turns of waiting, Setokuma finally draws the 8s in the middle of the third row and wins the hand. Setokuma wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 4,000 all.
The Honourable Thing to Do
May 18, Game 2, E1-1
In E1-1, Setokuma is the dealer in 1st place and Aki is tied for 2nd place.
Setokuma starts out the hand 2-shanten with a secured 8s, a pair of red dragons and a pair of wests. Across from him is Aki who is 3-shanten for chiitoi (4-shanten for a standard hand) with a lone 8s and a red 5p. In the first row, Setokuma creates another ryanmen and advances to iishanten. With a call of the red dragons, Setokuma gets to tenpai on a 47m ryanmen.
The turns seem to go normally with Aki slowly advancing and Setokuma drawing and discarding. Then, near the middle of the second row, Setokuma draws from the wall and drops his tile, revealing a 7m in the wall.
The players are confused which tile was the one that Setokuma dropped and which one was from the wall. After two checks with the referee (and the VAR) it was determined that the 7m is the one in the wall and the other tile is Setokuma’s draw. Since only one tile was revealed, play continued and Setokuma didn’t receive a penalty.
Counting the tiles, it was deduced that Setokuma would end up drawing the 7m. When it came around, Setokuma chose to discard it.
The tile was supposed to be hidden, but it was revealed prematurely. In the olden days, any tile revealed that should not be revealed, whether intentionally or unintentionally, should not be won off of. As a matter of his own principle (as was previously stated on his blog) and to own up to his own mistake, Setokuma chose not to win.
With the discarded 7m, Aki called pon to get to tenpai on a 47p ryanmen. Setokuma tries to recover his hand and switches to a 25m ryanmen, but Aki ends up drawing the winning 7p in the 3rd row and wins the hand. Aki wins with Tanyao/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 2,000+100/4,000+100.
Though Setokuma did not win the had, he gained the respect of many.
Two Ura
May 18, Game 2, E2-0
In E2-0, Aki is in 2nd place and 3,600 behind 1st place Setokuma.
Aki starts out the hand 4-shanten with two penchans, a ryanmen and a pair, holding no value whatsoever. In the first row, she converts the penchan to a kanchan and fills it, gets rid of the other penchan and gets to 2-shanten with a likely pinfu at the end of the row. In the second row, Aki creates a 789s iipeikou and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen. With the riichi, he forces Ooi, who was previously tenpai, to fold his hand, giving Aki less resistance. In the middle of the third row, Aki draws the 6p and wins the hand. With the 9s becoming uradora, Aki wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Iipeikou/Ura 2 for 3,000/6,000, moving into 1st place.
Rapid Riichi
May 18, Game 2, E4-2
In E4-2, Takamiya is in 4th place and 8,000 behind 3rd place Ooi. With 2,600 in bonus sticks available to the next winner, any 4 han hand will be enough to move up.
Takamiya starts out the hand with a double riichi chance with her first 13 tiles. She doesn’t get it on the first draw, but she is still iishanten with a 7s penchan and a 36p ryanmen. In the next two turns, she creates a 2344s shape (with the 3s being dora) and gets rid of the penchan. On turn 4, she draws the 1s to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen. On her very next draw, she gets the 6p and wins the hand. Takamiya wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1 for 2,000+200/4,000+200 plus two riichi sticks to move into 3rd.
Takamiya Top
May 18, Game 2, S2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s40_p761
In S2-1, Takamiya is the dealer and 9,400 behind 2nd place Setokuma. With a mangan or higher, she will overtake him.
Takamiya starts out the hand 3-shanten with two penchans and no value. On turn 3, she draws a 3m dora to create a ryanmen. However, the next few turns are frustrating and don’t advance her hand at all. Finally, on turn 11, Takamiya gets to iishanten and gets rid of one of her penchans. As she waits, Setokuma gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen.
With a bit of maneuvering, Takamiya gets to tenpai in the 3rd row and calls riichi on a 1s/9s shanpon. Two turns later, Takamiya draws the 9s and wins the hand. Revealing the 8s as the uradora indicator, Takamiya’s three 9s all become dora and upgrade her hand to a haneman. Takamiya wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1/Ura 3 for 6,000+100 all, quickly getting her to 2nd place and within 4,600 of 1st.
Aki Answers
May 18, Game 2, S2-2
In S2-2, Aki is in 1st place, but the dealer Takamiya is quickly approaching her.
Aki starts out the hand 3-shanten with two ryanmens and a secured 1p dora. On turn 2, she creates a 4s kanchan to get to 2-shanten. On turn 3, she draws a 4s to get to iishanten. On turn 4, she gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen. On her very next draw, she finds the 9p and wins the hand. Aki wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Dora 1 for 2,000+200/4,000+200, retaking the lead.
Ooi Overcomes
May 18, Game 2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s50_p754
In S4-2, Ooi is the dealer in 4th place, 6,000 behind 3rd place Setokuma and 18,000 behind 2nd place 2nd place Takamiya. With 3,600 in bonus sticks available, a mangan tsumo will be enough to move up two places.
Ooi starts out the hand 2-shanten with two sequences and a pair of 3m dora. On turn 3, Ooi draws a third 3m dora to get to iishanten. On turn 5, Ooi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 14s ryanmen.
Around the table, players are actually getting closer to tenpai instead of fully folding. On turn 8, Aki has a chance to get to tenpai, but would have to throw the 4s. Since the 4s is dangerous on the table, she rejects tenpai.
Takamiya continues to push and actually gets to iishanten, hoping to get a haneman tsumo for 1st place. However, Ooi ruins Takamiya’s hopes and as he draws his winning 1s at the end of the second row. Ooi wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 3 for 4,000+200 all plus three riichi sticks, taking 2nd place from Takamiya.
In S4-3, Ooi starts out 4-shanten with three ryanmens, a 3s penchan and a connected 7m. In the first row, Ooi is only able to fill in one of them to get to 3-shanten. On turn 7, fills in a ryanmen to get to 2-shanten. He secures a pair on his next turn to get to iishanten. On turn 10, Ooi finally fills in the 3s penchan and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen.
At the start of the third row, Setokuma gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7m dora tanki. With a direct ron off Takamiya or a tsumo, Setokuma will escape 4th.
With one tile for both of them, both have an equal chance of winning. In the middle of the third row, Setokuma ends up drawing and discarding the 4p, dealing into Ooi. Ooi wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 1 for 5,800+900 plus Setokuma’s riichi stick, putting Ooi above 30,000.
Final Scores
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-15_s10_p232
Twitter: https://twitter.com/m_league_jikkyo/status/1659216290945564679
Standings
With Aki’s win, this is the team’s first win of the finals. With Team Raiden getting a 4th, the EX Furinkazan are now closer to the money. Ooi’s incredible comeback in South 4 removed any doubt of the Shibuya Abemas’ final placement. As long as disaster doesn’t strike, they will finally escape the 3rd place curse. But, anything can happen in a single day.
And that’s all for today’s action! Tomorrow is the last day of the M-League 2022-23 season. The games will start 2 hours earlier at 17:00PM JST and by the end of the day, we will see who will be crowned champion. How will the podium play out? How loud will the crowd be? How many tears of joy will be shed? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see! See you at 17:00PM JST for the final day of the season!
M-League Watch 