The M-League 2023-24 season officially begins next week! With the new season about to start, let’s take a look back and see my picks for the top 5 plays of last season.
5. Opening
Let’s start this countdown at the very start of the season! A hand that was amazing in its own respect made even more amazing by its timing.
October 3, Game 2, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s40_p702
In S2-0, Kondo is in 4th place and Date is in 2nd. Kondo starts his hand off 2-shanten for chiitoi (3-shanten for a standard hand) and Date holds a 2-shanten haipai. On turn 2, Kondo drew a 5th pair to put him chiitoi iishanten and suuankou 2-shanten. On turn 3, Date is iishanten for a chance at suuankou as well. With not one, but two chances at suuankou, the audience gets excited. After the close call from Game 1, viewers wanted to see a yakuman. On turn 4, Kondo draws a 6th pair, but chooses to hold an ankou instead of taking tenpai, keeping the dream alive.
Right after, Date is faced with a similar situation where she can choose to take a 4-sided wait tenpai, but have a high probability of being a cheap hand.
With a lot more value possible, she rejects the tenpai and aims for the toitoi and suuankou.
When Kondo draws a fourth green dragon, he makes the interesting call and says kan, rejecting chiitoi and confirming his pursuit of toitoi and suuankou.
At the end of the 1st row, Date draws a 3rd ankou to get to suuankou tenpai, the second such tenpai of the day. However, Date’s wait isn’t quite as simple as a shanpon. Because of how her pinzu is lined up, she is waiting on a 25p/2m wait. If Date wins on the 2p, the hand would be a tragic Iipeikou/Tanyao. As such, Date stays dama and hopes for a 5p or a 2m. Fans sit at the edge of their seats to see a yakuman.
Running out of time, Kondo decides to abandon the closed hand and calls pon on the 4s to reach iishanten. Reacting to Kondo’s call, Date decides that it’s time to riichi. In the middle of the 2nd row, Kondo makes a second call to get to tenpai on a north/1s shanpon. Hisato’s win to beat Hagiwara’s suuankou tenpai is still fresh in the minds of yakuman watchers.
But, with Date’s next draw, she gets the 5p and wins the hand. Date wins with Suuankou, winning the first yakuman of the season on the first day of the season.
By drawing the 5p, Date also had the unofficially recognized local yakuman Suurenkou, a local yakuman only seen once before when Takizawa won it back on Yakuman Day in 2021.
4. Breaking the Record
Fans love records. Fans love big wins. Fans love lots of honba. In this game, Kurosawa started South 4 in 2nd place. Then she kept winning and winning and winning. By the end of S4-8, she was just 1,000 away from 100,000.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s70_p711
In S4-9, Kurosawa is just 1,000 points away from the 100,00 mark. With any win or any tenpai, she will be only the 4th player to hit that mark. She is blessed with a good starting hand, being 2-shanten with two completed sequences. On turn 2, she gets to iishanten. On turn 4, she gets rid of a penchan to create a sanmenchan. At the end of the row, Kurosawa gets to tenpai and sit dama on a yakuless 3p wait. In the middle of the 2nd row, Kurosawa breaks her tenpai to fish for a better wait and a turn later, she gets back to tenpai and calls riichi on a 5p kanchan which gives her iipeikou. On the ippatsu draw, she gets the 5p and wins the hand. Kurosawa wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Iipeikou for 4,000+900 all, putting her score to 113,700. With the 113,700, she now holds the record for highest score ever achieved in an M-League game.
Though her dealership would end in S4-10, her performance was legendary. After 3.5 hours and 26 hands, the game was finally over. With this game, many records were broken or tied:
- Highest score achieved: 113,700
- Highest final score: 112,700 (+132.7pts)
- Most hands won by a single person in one hanchan: 9 wins (tied)
- Most hands in a single game: 26 hands
- Longest game: 3 hours 26 minutes
At the time, the game also had the lowest score of all time, but it has since been surpassed.
The game and the last hand went so long that many different activities could have been finished within the span of South 4 alone.
3. Just Barely
All last is not the end, it is only the beginning. With an efficient win, you can have a +100.0 point swing in a single hand. In this hand, Setokuma is in 4th place and behind 1st place by 12,700. With careful playing and bit of luck, even a simple mangan can transform his fortune.
January 26, Game 1, S4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s70_p725
In S4-1, Setokuma is in 4th place and trying to get his first 1st since October 13. Sitting 12,700 behind 1st place dealer Katsumata, Setokuma needs a haneman tsumo, a baiman indirect hit or a 3/50 or 4/25 direct hit. If Setokuma wants to move out of 4th, then all he needs is a mangan for at least 3rd.
Setokuma starts out 3-shanten with a pair of souths as its only value. He needs to confirm the south yakuhai and find some dora in order to move up. In the first row, Setokuma is just unable to find value. At the end of the first row, Setokuma adds a red 5m to his hand for some value, but is still stuck at 2-shanten. In the second row, Setokuma draws a 4m dora to get to iishanten, waiting on a 3s and 5p for a 345 sanshoku. As Setokuma waits, Katsumata the dealer gets to tenpai and waits with a 36m ryanmen.
A turn later, Setokuma draws the 6s. Though it kills his sanshoku, it does get him to tenpai. Setokuma chooses to call riichi on his 25p ryanmen, guaranteed at least 3 han. If Setokuma draws the winning tile himself, he will move into 2nd place. If he calls ron and finds an uradora, he will move into either 3rd or 2nd. However, if he calls ron off Katsumata and misses the extra han, Setokuma will stay in 4th.
Within the ippatsu turn, Takamiya gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 67p wait. With any win Takamiya will win the game.
With the riichi call from Takamiya, Setokuma’s winning conditions have changed. Now Setokuma only needs a mangan tsumo or a haneman indirect ron to move into 1st place. With this, Raiden fans are filled with hope. On Setokuma’s ippatsu draw, he confidently places his draw next his hand and reveals a 2p! With the big draw, Setokuma has done it. Setokuma wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 2,000+100/4,000+100 plus one riichi stick, finishing the game with 26,800 in 1st place, the second-lowest 1st place of all time.
2. Rinshan and Then Some
For decades, kans have been the call that creates the most hope and excitement. A single flip can give you big returns. A perfect draw can make you feel like an anime protagonist. In this hand, Hinata Aiko of the Shibuya Abemas makes one kan that changes the course of the game.
November 1, Game 1, E3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s50_p709
In E3-0, Hinata is the dealer in 3rd place and just 4,500 behind 1st place Uchikawa. She starts off with a 4-shanten hand, but holds an ankou of the 7s dora for a potentially valuable hand. On turn 3, Hinata is 2-shanten and at the start of the 2nd row, she gets to iishanten. Unfortunately, her hands slows down from here, allowing Uchikawa to catch up. In the middle of the row, Uchikawa is the first to tenpai, calling riichi on a 7p penchan.
On the ippatsu draw, Hinata draws a ryanmen to get to a perfect iishanten, encouraging her to push the hand. Even with dangerous draws afterwards, a good wait with good value as the dealer is good enough to almost ignore the riichi. Around the start of the 3rd row, Hinata finally gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69m ryanmen, guaranteed to be at least a mangan.
On the ippatsu draw, Hinata finds the dora 7s. She calls kan, giving her chances at even more dora.
The kandora is a 2s. A miss, but she still has a chance at the rinshan. With the rinshan draw, she reveals the 6m, giving her the win. The first flip gives her one dora, bringing her hand to a baiman. With the second flip, the 7s becomes double dora, turning her baiman into a sanbaiman! Hinata wins the hand with Riichi/Rinshan/Tsumo/Dora 4/Ura 5 for 12,000 all plus Uchikawa’s riichi stick, sending her score from below starting to over 60,000.
Honorable Mention: The Greatest Headbump of All Time
A review of the season would be remiss if I didn’t mention the legendary headbump. A whole league showing sympathy after a single person’s dreams were dashed by a simple rule.
March 6, Game 1, S2-5
Video (ABEMA): https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s10_p740
Video (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lwJe8JdbOQ
In S2-5, Murakami is in 4th place and Nakabayashi is in 1st place. For Murakami, he is 4,600 behind Tojo, needing a 3 han hand to move up in rank.
At the start, we see Murakami already 2-shanten with a pair of green dragons. to Murakami’s right, Nakabayashi has 10 different terminals and honours, missing a pair and 3-shanten for a potential kokushi. After the three yakuman in the past three weeks, could we have our fourth in as many weeks? All he needs is a 9m, 1s and 9s.
On turn 2, Nakabayashi draws a red dragon to give him a pair and put him 2-shanten. On turn 2, he draws the 1s and on turn 5, he draws the 9s. In just 5 turns, Nakabayashi is already tenpai for kokushi, waiting on a 9m for the yakuman.
To Nakabayashi’s right is Takizawa, holding a 9m. His 7m is very likely going to be a pair, making the 9m nearly useless. As Hiyoshi yells, Konami fans are yelling for Takizawa not to throw it. With every second Takizawa delays, the tension builds. When he finally discards, he throws the 3m, staying safe for one more turn.
On Takizawa’s next draw, he gets the white dragon, staying safe. On Murakami’s draw at the start of the second row, he makes an ankou of green dragons and gets to tenpai. He calls riichi, waiting for the 69m ryanmen.
Drivens fans are satisfied, Konami fans are feeling a bit of relief and Pirates fans are writhing in pain. With Murakami earlier in turn order, a 9m discard by either Takizawa or Tojo would mean Murakami would win and Nakabayashi would get nothing because of the headbump rule. During the ippatsu round, Takizawa has no safe tiles. To advance his hand, he throws the 9m.
At the same time, Nakabayashi and Murakami calls ron. As Nakabayashi hears Murakami’s call, he makes an extremely annoyed and slightly upset face. As Murakami reveals his hand, he wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Green Dragon for 6,400+1,500.
While writhing in pain and seeing the loss of a yakuman, fans of all stripes understood the comedy of the situation. The yakuman being lost due to turn order added with the reaction by Nakabayashi’s face had the Drivens and the Nikaido sisters laughing.
The moment was so legendary that they decided to memorialize his reaction into merchandise.
1. Suji Trap
One of the earliest pieces of strategy we learn is suji. And one of the first traps we learn about is the suji trap. On the ultimate stage, this single strategy would be the greatest and most evil move of the season.
February 14, Game 2, S1-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-14_s20_p732
In S1-2 Aki is in 3rd place and 4,500 behind 2nd place Kobayashi. Way out in 1st place is Uotani, ahead of Aki by 29,100.
She starts out the hand 3-shanten for chiitoi (4-shanten for a standard hand) and lacking value. She has the ability to accept red fives and maybe tanyao, but that’s about it. But, with every draw, something strange started to show up. Aki wasn’t only making pairs, she was making triplets. By turn 5, she had two triplets (7s and 3m) and two pairs (3s and 7m), putting her 2-shanten for a potential suuankou (tanki!). On turn 6, she draws a 3s. With three ankous, she is just one more away from yakuman. If she draws 5p or 9m, she would be suuankou tenpai on a shanpon. If she draws the 7m, she would have suuankou tanki. In the middle of the second row, Aki draws it. She draws the 7m. With a riichi, she waits on the 9m for suuankou.
With the 6m thrown at the end of the first row, the suji trap is set. However, her wait isn’t just a simple 9m. With the 7779m shape, she is also waiting on the 8m, a result that would be 4 times cheaper.
Looking at the table, there are no 9m left in the wall. In fact, Uotani has all three of them. The sense of danger is felt through the yelling of the commentators Matsushima Momo and Ishibashi Nobuhiro. Uotani has no safe tiles, no dora except for a red 5s is visible and Uotani has a cheap hand. With the ankou of 9m and the 6m suji, the only hand she can deal into is a kokushi or a tanki wait. With the wests all exhausted, it can only be a tanki wait. With all tiles leading to 9m as the safest tile, Uotani throws it.
Just like that the first yakuman since September has been won, the first yakuman ron since the legendary Kurosawa’s suuankou tanki on the west. Aki wins the hand with Suuankou Tanki for 32,000+600 plus one riichi stick, taking the clear lead.
Also a fun fact, Aki’s hand consisted of a 3s, 7s, 3m and 7m. These two numbered groups in two suits is known as the local yaku Ryandoukou, also known as Double Date, perfect for the Valentine’s Day win.
And those are my picks for the top 5 plays of the 2022-23 season! Which ones were your favourites? How will this year’s games stack up against them? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see! See you next week at the season opener!
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