Game #13
EX Furinkazan
U-Next Pirates
Akasaka
Drivens
Kadokawa
Sakura Knights
Ura Ura
May 16, Game 1, E1-1
In E1-1, Shibukawa is tied for 2nd place and 4,800 behind 1st place dealer Matsugase. With the Kadokawa Sakura Knights trailing the EX Furinkazan by just a handful of points, placing above them would move them into 3rd place.
Shibukawa starts out the hand 3-shanten with a pair of green dragons and three potential ryanmens. In the first row, he fills in one ryanmen and creates another. By the end of the first row, he is 2-shanten and has secured the green dragon as his pair. In the second row, he fills in his two pinzu ryanmens to get to tenpai. At the end of the row, he calls riichi and waits on a 25s ryanmen. On his second-last draw, Shibukawa draws the 5s and wins the hand. With the uradora flip, Shibukawa’s green dragon pair, the only duplicates in his hand, becomes uradora and upgrades his hand to a mangan. Shibukawa wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Ura 2 for 2,000+100/4,000+100, taking the lead.
Gorilla Mahjong
May 16, Game 1
In S2-0, Mizuhara is now the dealer in 2nd place, 8,00 behind 1st place Shibukawa.
Mizuhara starts out 3-shanten with a connected 7p dora and the yakuhai easts being her only pair. In the first row, she creates two sequences to get to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten, still holding the easts as her only pair. As she looks for tenpai, Futoshi gets there first on turn 8 and calls riichi on a 14p ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan if he wins.
After avoiding the ippatsu round with the red dragon, Mizuhara pairs up the 8s. With her pair replaced, she throws the easts and now has a chance at both pinfu and tanyao. At the end of the row, she draws the 4m to secure both and stays dama on a 58p ryanmen. With the 5p safe being safe against Futoshi, Mizuhara hopes to catch someone off guard. On Mizuhara’s next draw, she gets the 5p and wins the hand. Mizuhara wins with Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 1 for 2,600 all plus one riichi stick, moving into 1st.
In S2-1, Mizuhara has a 2-shanten hand to start with and a connected 3p dora for value. By turn 3, she is already tenpai and calls riichi on a 6p kanchan.
With so little information to fold and few games to make comebacks, players can’t help but push. To Mizuhara’s left, Matsugase gets to iishanten on the ippatsu round. After drawing some value and quite a bit of waiting, Matsugase gets to tenpai in the middle of the second row and calls riichi on a 7m/8m shanpon. Unfortunately for him, there are none left in the wall.
When all seemed lost, Mizuhara draws the 6p on her second-last draw and wins the hand. Mizuhara wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1 for 2,000+100 all plus one riichi stick, bringing her above 40,000.
Yakuman Tenpai…
May 16, Game 1, S2-4
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s60_p3034
In S2-4, fans are waiting for the first yakuman of the season. In particular, Futoshi in last place would like to win one to get him close to or at the top.
Before we even see Futoshi’s hand, we already hear Hiyoshi screaming. As Futoshi calls pon on the north, we can see why. In Futoshi’s hand are pairs of south and east, a single west and now a pon of the north. The dream of shousuushii or daisuushii is alive.
With both the east and the south sitting alone in Mizuhara’s hand, another pon is possible. On turn 4, Futoshi calls pon on the east. Though he has a chance to be iishanten, he breaks his pinzu block to go for yakuman. With a lone red dragon in his hand as well, he could even and tsuuiisou for a double yakuman.
In the second row, Shibukawa draws the last south. With one stuck in each of their hands, Futoshi will either need to draw two more wests or hope for either of the two holdouts to discard the south. Also in the second row, Mizuhara has a chance to get to tenpai, but would be forced to discard the south to take it. With two non-yakuhai wind calls by Futoshi, Mizuhara is suspicious of his hand. With a honitsu or bigger being possible, the south is very dangerous. Not taking the tenpai, she discards her 5p pair to give her a chance to pair up the south.
Near the end of the row, Futoshi draws a west. On west remains in the wall. If Futoshi is able to draw it or complete his 36s ryanmen, he would be tenpai for yakuman.
Unfortunately, Shibukawa draws the last west just moments later. Across from him, Matsugase wants to get his team into 2nd place overall. With little time left in the finals, he chooses to call riichi on a 25p ryanmen hoping to complete his mangan hand.
In the third row, Futoshi draws the 3s to be tenpai on a south/west shanpon. Though he is yakuman tenpai, the fans know that it will never be completed.
As the players draw and discard, fans watch as the two of them fruitlessly look for their winning tiles. In the end, the hand goes to a draw with Matsugase and Futoshi the only ones tenpai.
Dora 3
May 16, Game 1, S3-6
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2066
In S3-6, Futoshi is the dealer in 3rd place, 5,200 behind 2nd place Shibukawa and 24,600 behind 1st place Mizuhara. With six honba, the next player to win will get an extra 1,800.
At the start, Futoshi has a huge 3-shanten hand with a pair of yakuhai easts and a triplet of 8m dora. If he can make this mangan minimum hand convert, he will be in business. The instant the east comes out, Futoshi calls pon for 2-shanten. After making a pair of 3s and a 789m sequence, Futoshi gets to tenpai on a 3s/8m shanpon. Though it is tenpai, it’s a mediocre wait.
Still fighting for a better placement is Matsugase, just 3,400 behind Futoshi. After he called pon on the south and 1s then creating a souzu sequence, Matsugase gets to tenpai on a 5m kanchan. On Futoshi’s turn, he draws a fourth east and calls an added kan, though the rinshan and kandora is useless to both tenpai players. In the middle of the second row, Matsugase improves his wait to a 25m ryanmen.
On Matsugase’s turn, he draws a south and calls an added kan. Like Futoshi’s kan, Matsugase’s is a futile attempt to gain substantial value. In the third row, Futoshi is able to change his wait to a 3s/7m shanpon. Two turns later, Futoshi draws the 3s and wins the hand. Futoshi wins with East/Dora 3 for 2,000+600/4,000+600, taking him to 2nd place.
8 Honba
May 16, Game 1, S4-8
In S4-8, Shibukawa is in 3rd place and 10,200 behind 2nd place Futoshi and 16,400 behind 1st place Mizuhara. Holding the final dealership, he has the ability to win big and make a comeback, especially with 8 honba on the table to add value.
Shibukawa starts out with a pretty good 2-shanten hand with two ryanmens, but the current state of it makes it difficult to open and speed it up. To his right, Matsugase is also 2-shanten with a triplet of souths and a floating red 5p. If there is a hand that could spell trouble for Shibukawa, this is it. In Matsugase’s first few turns, he replaces the red 5p for a red 5m and gets himself to iishanten. On turn 7, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen. If he draws the winning tile himself or calls ron on the 6m (to give ittsuu), he will finish ahead of Shibukawa.
The riichi is a sign for Shibukawa to hurry up, but the 123p sequence he draws during the ippatsu round is stopping him. Soon after, 2nd place Futoshi gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen as well. With tsumo or an uradora, Futoshi will win the game. However, there is a chance at headbump. If Mizuhara discards the winning tile, Futoshi will win. If Shibukawa discards it, then Matsugase will win.
With every tile that doesn’t fit in, Shibukawa just pushes fearlessly. In the third row, Shibukawa finally gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 5m kanchan. Counting tiles, one 6m and one 5m remain in the wall. In the middle of the third row, Mizuhara draws the last 6m, giving Shibukawa a clearer chance to win. On Shibukawa’s draw, he gets the last 5m to win the hand. Flipping an uradora, Shibukawa wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Ura 1 for 2,000+800 all plus two riichi sticks, pushing Shibukawa into 2nd place.
Considerations
May 16, Game 1, S4-9
In S4-9, Shibukawa is in 2nd place and 3,200 behind 1st place Mizuhara. Winning any hand will put him into 1st place. However, he also has to consider his closer rivals, the Akasaka Drivens and the EX Furinkazan.
Shibukawa starts out the hand 3-shanten with pairs of red dragon and west. Matsugase starts with a closer 2-shanten with a floating south dora and a secured red 5m, while Futoshi is 3-shanten with a white dragon pair. The first row fills in a penchan to get to 2-shanten, but that’s about it. Matsugase takes one step forward as well, still holding onto the south for value. In the second row, Shibukawa calls pon on the red dragon to have a yaku. Right after, Matsugase has a chance at a cheap tenpai but instead chooses to be flexible between a 345 sanshoku or a south. In the middle of the second row, he gets to tenpai on a 25s ryanmen, throws the south and calls riichi. Drawing the red 5s will give him a haneman, though it isn’t enough for 3rd place. If he can somehow upgrade it to a baiman, then he will finish in 2nd. Alternatively, a haneman direct hit is enough for 3rd.
With the riichi by last place, the table has to be careful. One wrong discard can drop them a rank, both in this game and in the standings. In the third row, Shibukawa breaks iishanten, though he gets back to it in the middle of the third row. A turn later, he has a chance at tenpai.
He can discard either the 6s or the 7p for tenpai, but neither of them are safe. If he does take tenpai, he will just have to endure one more draw for himself and then he will have another chance at 1st place. However, another hand also means another chance for rival Futoshi to pass him. If Futoshi moves ahead, that will put 2nd place even more out of reach. And if he ends up dealing in with either the 6s or the 7p, he could even drop down to 4th, a disastrous result. Taking these facts into consideration, Shibukawa chooses to fold and discards the 1m.
Interestingly enough, Mizuhara’s second-last draw, she is able to get to tenpai on a 9p tanki with one 9p left in the wall.
The hand ends in a draw with Matsugase and Mizuhara in tenpai, solidifying 2nd for Shibukawa.
Final Scores
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s60_p259
Twitter: https://twitter.com/m_league_jikkyo/status/1791090259901763744
Standings
With the U-Next Pirates winning their fourth game in their past five matches, they have increased their almost insurmountable lead to more than 400.0pts. After climbing out of 4th place in the game, Futoshi’s commendable efforts kept the Akasaka Drivens in 2nd place in the standings. With Shibukawa’s 2nd place, he moves him team up one rank and into the money.
M-League Watch 