Game #6
Kadokawa
Sakura Knights
EX Furinkazan
Akasaka
Drivens
U-Next Pirates
Mahjong Singularity
May 9, Game 2, E1-0
In E1-0, Futoshi is playing for the Akasaka Drivens. With the team 201.3pts behind 3rd place and only 9 games left, they need to gain points soon to have a chance at the prize money.
Futoshi starts off with a 4-shanten hand, but has a lot of tiles acceptance and a reasonable path to both pinfu and tanyao. In the first row, he is only able to get to 2-shanten, but has tanyao in the bag. Filling in a ryanmen on turn 7, he advances to iishanten, looking to fill in a kanchan and create a pair. Creating a ryanmen in souzu and securing his two 5p as a pair, Futoshi get to tenpai on turn 9 on a 36s ryanmen.
Across from him is dealer Hori, getting to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten on the ippatsu turn. With good enough shapes, Hori simply pushes everything. In the middle of the third row, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25m ryanmen.
With the wall getting short, it looked like the hand might go to a draw. Then, on Futoshi’s last draw, he gets the 3s and wins the hand. Futoshi wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Ura 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus one riichi stick, taking the early lead.
Sanshoku
May 9, Game 2, E2-0
In E2-0, Mizuhara is tied of 2nd place and 11,000 behind 1st place Futoshi.
With her first 14 tiles, Mizuhara is 2-shanten and almost guaranteed to have a 789 sanshoku, just needing a 7s and a 7p. In the first row, Mizuhara pairs up the 6s dora and calls chii on the 7s to get to iishanten. In the same time frame, Katsumata makes a call to get to iishanten, needing a white dragon to get a yaku. With a pon on the red dragon, he gets to tenpai with no yaku, wanting to either get the white dragon or convert to toitoi. Near the end of the second row, Mizuhara gets the 7p and waits on a 25m ryanmen. Soon after, Katsumata draws the red 5m. Though it completes his hand, he has no yaku. He throws it out and ends up dealing into Mizuhara. Mizuhara wins the hand with Sanshoku/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 8,000.
New Dora
May 9, Game 2, E3-0
In E3-0, it is now Futoshi’s dealership. With Mizuhara getting close, Futoshi wants to make space.
Futoshi starts out the hand 3-shanten with a red 5s and a 6s kanchan waiting to be filled. In his first few turns, he pairs up the 9p and makes it a triplet. By turn 4, Futoshi is iishanten. On turn 8, he fills in the pinzu ryanmen in his hand and calls riichi on a 6s kanchan. The 6s is a nakasuji, potentially making it easier to win on. Near the end of the second row, Futoshi draws a fourth 9p and calls a concealed kan. With the dora flip, the 6s that Futoshi is waiting on becomes the new dora, making it a bit harder for him to win by ron. Still, remains in the wall. On Futoshi’s second-last draw, he gets that last 6s and wins the hand. Futoshi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 4,000 all.
Recovery
May 9, Game 2, E3-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2573
In E3-1, Katsumata is in 4th place and 5,000 behind 3rd place Hori. With the EX Furinkazan falling below the Kadokawa Sakura Knights the previous game, Katsumata wants to make sure that they don’t fall further.
Katsumata’s starting hand is 3-shanten with two ryanmens and a red 5p, but the two 9m in his hand makes it difficult for him to call. Very early, Mizuhara gets near-perfect draws and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen.
With few safe tiles and his team falling behind, he just pushes through. He fills in a 3p kanchan, draws a red 5m and creates a ryanmen. With his hand composition, he is guaranteed a good wait. But, he is still 2-shanten with only one more row of discards left. Near the middle of the second row, he fills a ryanmen to get to a perfect iishanten. On his next draw, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins. On the ippatsu draw, he gets the 4m and wins the hand. Katsumata wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Pinfu/Aka 2 for 3,000+100/6,000+100 plus one riichi stick, moving Katsumata into 2nd place.
Go Go Shingo
May 9, Game 2, S1-1
In S1-1, dealer Hori is in 2nd place, 200 behind 3rd place Katsumata and 6,000 behind 2nd place Mizuhara.
Though Hori starts out 4-shanten for chiitoi (5-shanten for a standard hand), he has a pair of 1s dora to provide him value. After pairing up the east yakuhai on turn 2, his yaku is more or less set. On turn 5, he calls pon on the 1s dora to get him and 2-shanten and guarantee him at least a mangan. On turn 6, he gets a third east to secure the yaku and get to iishanten. At the start of the second row, he gets to tenpai and waits on a 36m ryanmen.
As Hori waits, Katsumata also gets to tenpai and waits on a 4s/3m shanpon. With a bad wait and no yaku, he decides not to call riichi, looking to improve. In the third row, he gets the improvement he wants (a 47m ryanmen), but taking it would force him to discard the 3m. He takes it and deals into Hori. Hori wins the hand with East/Dora 3 for 12,000+300, moving into 2nd place.
Ippatsu
May 9, Game 2, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2574
After a short break to get the tiles cleaned, the game continued in S2-0. Katsumata is the dealer and is yet again in 4th place, 22,400 behind 3rd place Hori and 24,900 behind 2nd place Mizuhara.
Katsumata starts out with a frustrating chiitoi 4-shanten hand, 6-shanten from any sort of standard hand. Hori, on the other hand, is 2-shanten with two ryanmens, a connected red 5m and a secured 4s dora. By the end of the first row, Hori is tenpai and he calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins.
By this points, Katsumata is in a much better position, holding a triplet of norths with a ryanmen and sitting at 3-shanten. With multiple pairs in his hand, he has the flexibility to make the triplets or keep the pairs for chiitoi. On turn 8, he pairs up the 6m, making him 2-shanten for both types of hands. In the middle of the second row, he makes the 6s a triplet to put him in a perfect iishanten. Making a 3s pair at the start of the third row, he is now iishanten for a potential suuankou.
Though a suuankou would be nice, any tenpai is good. Two turns later, he ends up drawing the 4s dora to create a 234s sequence. He calls riichi and waits on a 6m/8p shanpon. If he draws either of them himself, he would add sanankou. On his very next draw, he gets the 8p and wins the hand. Katsumata wins with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/Sanankou/Dora 1 for 6,000 all, putting him in 2nd place and 100 above Mizuhara.
Direct
May 9, Game 2, S3-0
In S3-0, Mizuhara is in 3rd place, only 3,500 ahead of 4th place Hori, 5,500 behind 2nd place Katsumata and 27,200 behind 1st place dealer Futoshi.
Both Futoshi and Mizuhara start out 3-shanten, but Mizuhara has the slight advantage with three ryanmens and a secured 2p dora. Despite this good advantage, Futoshi is able to match Mizuhara’s speed. On turn 7, Futoshi is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 3s/6s shanpon.
Immediately after, Mizuhara gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen. With three of Futoshi’s waits against five of Mizuhara’s, Mizuhara has the advantage. At the start of Futoshi’s third row, he draws and discards the 5s and deals into Mizuhara. Hitting an uradora, Mizuhara wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 8,000 plus Futoshi’s riichi stick, taking her into 2nd place and just 9,200 behind 1st place going into the last hand.
Gyakuten
May 9, Game 2, S4-0
In S4-0, Katsumata is in 3rd place and 3,500 behind 2nd place Mizuhara. To finish the game with a positive score, Katsumata needs a 2/30 direct hit, a 2/40 tsumo or a 3/30 ron.
From the start, all four players are at 2-shanten. Out of all of them, Mizuhara has the best chance at opening her hand with a 789 sanshoku (needing a 9m and an 8p). For Katsumata, he lacks the value to make the comeback, but can always try for uradora. Near the end of the first row, Futoshi has a chance to be tenpai on a yakuless 7p penchan, but rejects it for a better wait (especially since he holds a 5678s shape that can easily gain a ryanmen). At the start of the second row, Mizuhara calls chii with the 8p to get to tenpai on a 69m ryanmen. Since sanshoku is her only potential yaku, she is only allowed to win off the 9m. Unfortunately, Futoshi to her left is hogging three of them.
By this point, the rest of them are iishanten, though Katsumata still needs value. With Futoshi seeing Mizuhara’s progress, Futoshi calls chii on a 789s sequence and waits on a 47s ryanmen. Since ittsuu is his only possible yaku, he is only allowed to win off the 4s.
On Katsumata’s turn, he gets to tenpai, having a chance to take a 147s/3p wait. He would have no other yaku except for riichi, but getting ura on a direct hit or tsumo would be enough for 1st place. He takes his chances and calls riichi on the wide wait. Two turns later, he draws the 7s. All he needs is ura. With the flip, the 5s in his hand becomes the new dora and Katsumata completes the comeback. Katsumata wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Ura 1 for 1,000/2,000, finishing the game in 2nd place.
Final Scores
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s60_p252
Twitter: https://twitter.com/m_league_jikkyo/status/1788592933354246490
Standings
After the Kadokawa Sakura Knights and U-Next Pirates dominated the first five games, Futoshi and the Akasaka Drivens have finally broken through and gotten a 1st. They are still at the bottom, but they are making progress. Hori’s 4th place puts the Kadokawa Sakura Knights a bit further away from the 1st place U-Next Pirates. With Katsumata’s 2nd, they are getting closer to reclaiming 2nd place overall.
And that’s all for today! It was sure an exhausting but exciting day! The Kadokawa Sakura Knights have made big progress, but they still have the U-Next Pirates ahead of them. Not to mention, the Akasaka Drivens are close to the positives again and could jumpt into the top three with some good games and direct hits. Can the Kadokawa Sakura Knights move to the top or will the U-Next Pirates defend their loot? Can the EX Furinkazan retake 2nd place and go further? Can the Akasaka Drivens move into the positive and maybe move into the money? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see!
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