The M-League 2024-25 season is just a week away! Today, we’ll take a look back and check out my picks for the top 5 plays of the M-League 2023-24 season!
5. Everything Comes Together
Sometimes you have miracles in mahjong. You can win with ippatsu with some luck. You can get three uradora with even more luck. You can get a closed honitsu with a lot of luck. When the stars align, you can get all three at the same time.
On September 26, 2023, the demon king Sasaki Hisato (佐々木寿人) managed to do this and get an extremely rare sanbaiman win.
September 26, Game 2, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3503
In E4-0, Sasaki Hisato has just fallen from 1st to 4th place after dealing into a mangan. With at least a mangan win, he will move back into 1st place.
Hisato starts out the hand 3-shanten with an ankou of souths and a connected 4m. With only three tiles that are neither manzu nor terminals, Hisato’s hand naturally shifted towards honitsu. On turn 2, he creates a 14m ryanmen. On turn 7, he pairs up the norths to get to iishanten. On turn 11, he draws a third north and has multiple choices for tenpai.
Even though having a hand worth at least mangan is usually a dama, his discards have already tipped his opponents off to the fact that it’s a manzu flush. With no one discarding manzu isato decides to call riichi on a 14m ryanmen and try to get extra points. On his very next draw, he gets the 1s and wins the hand. With his hand at least a baiman now, he flips the dora and makes his south ankou into dora, upgrading his hand to the rare sanbaiman! Hisato wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tsumo/North/Honitsu/Dora 1/Ura 3 for 6,000/12,000, easily putting him into 1st
Honourable Mention: *stare*
Okay, this might be a meme, but it had a great effect. More than 20 seconds of staring into the camera. From that day on, multiple pros stared right at the camera after winning their game. I even wrote an article about it.
4. Salt In The Wound
Getting your yakuman ruined can be rough. Even worse when you’re in the negatives and you deal into 1st place with the houtei. That’s exactly what happened to Sarukawa Masatoshi on November 23, 2023 when Nikaido Rumi pushed against his yakuman (as well as a separate riichi on the table) and managed to win. Bold pushes by Rumi got rewarded.
November 23, Game 1, S1-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2524
In S1-0, Sarukawa is deep in 4th place at -6,800. He desperately needs a big hand. On the other hand, Rumi is comfortably in 1st place with 53,500.
Sarukawa starts out the hand 4-shanten with a single green dragon dora, a single red dragon and a pair of white dragons. With the need for points, he keeps the dream alive by holding them. Within the first few turns, he calls pon on the white dragon. On turn 5, he pairs up the green dragon. At the start of the second row, Sarukawa pairs up the red dragon. If he is able to make both of them into triplets, he will be tenpai for a daisangen yakuman. A turn later, he creates a 345s sequence to get to iishanten.
Around the table, he does have some competition, though. Across from him is Takamiya at iishanten. After shifting to tanyao, Takamiya gets to tenpai at the end of the second row and calls riichi on a 6s/4m shanpon.
With the riichi, Takamiya puts herself in a dangerous position where any dragon she draws will have to be discarded. Sure enough, Takamiya draws the red dragon on her ippatsu draw and is froced to discard it. Sarukawa call pon and gets to tenpai on a green dragon/8s shanpon. With one green dragon in Rumi’s hand, there is still one more green dragon in the wall.
Fans are at the edge of their seats. Beast fans hope that Sarukawa draws it, Konami fans hope Takamiya doesn’t draw it. Then, in the third row, Rumi ends up drawing it, killing the chance of a yakuman and also getting her iishanten.
As Rumi folds her hand, she ends up getting closer to honitsu tenpai. On the 6th-last tile of the wall, Rumi gets to iishanten and is able to continue safely. After Sonoda calls a chii to get to a yakuless tenpai, Rumi draws the 3rd-last tile. It misses, leaving her still at iishanten. On the second-last tile, Sarukawa draws and discards the 8p. With a pon, Rumi gets to tenpai on a 58p/green dragon wait. With the very last tile in the wall, Sarukawa draws the last 8p and ends up dealing into Rumi! After having so much hope, he ends up with one of the worst results possible. Rumi wins the hand with Houtei/Honitsu/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 12,000 plus one riichi stick, bringing Rumi up to 66,500 and Sarukawa all the way down to -18,800.
Honourable Mention: Immediate Value
Sometimes you are gifted a quick tenpai by the mahjong gods. Sometimes you get gifted with a big hand. On January 23, 2024, Sugawara Hiroe (菅原千瑛) was gifted with both at the same time. A near perfect composition for a valuable win.
January 23, Game 2, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p6039
In S2-0, Sugawara is in 2nd place and 3,200 behind 1st place Nakabayashi.
With Sugawara’s first 13 tiles, she is already iishanten and a 2m away from a 234 sanshoku. On her very first draw, she picks the 2m and calls a double riichi, guaranteed at least a haneman if she wins.
Though a riichi normally scares players away, the lack of information makes it hard for players to fold. With this lack of information, they push. In the first two rows, both Nakabayashi and Sonoda move their hand forward, both getting to iishanten by the end of the second row. At the same time, Sugawara’s 5p’s get picked up by others, leaving her with only one left in the wall. At the start of the third row, Nakabayashi gets to tenpai on a yakuless 6m/4s shanpon. After a chii by Kayamori to shift the wall, Sugawara is able to draw the 5p and win the hand. Sugawara wins with Double Riichi/Tsumo/Tanyao/Sanshoku/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000, moving into 1st place.
3. Genius
This play is a combination of placement awareness and making history. In the scheme of the finals, the Akasaka Drivens were in 2nd place in the standings with both the Kadokawa Sakura Knights and EX Furinkazan hot on their heels. He finishes the game in last, but the final hand helped the team secure 2nd place. It also created the closest game in M-League history.
May 17, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5579
In S4-0, Taro is in 4th place. The scores are close, putting Taro within a mangan of moving up, possibly even 1st place if he hits Okada. For anything less, he will need to hit well.
In Taro’s starting hand, he is 2-shanten for both a standard hand and chiitoi. Early on, he discards the 7p from a 6778p shape, thinking that all his other groups are solid for tanyao. However, it immediately backfires as he draws the 6p on his next draw. He puts it behind him and chooses to confirm tanyao with a 5p kanchan instead. At the end of the row, he draws a red 5s. With Tanyao/Iipeikou/Aka 1, he has enough for 5,200, getting to a mangan for 2nd place on a tsumo or a red 5p. In the second row, Okada discards the 5p trying to accept iishanten and deals into Taro. Taro wins the hand for 5,200. He finishes the game in 4th place.
At first, it seemed like a very weird choice, especially since he doesn’t move out of last. However, if we broaden our perspective, we can see this stroke of genius. Before the win, Okada was in 1st place. Under a 1st/4th scenario, the Kadokawa Sakura Knights would get quite close to the Akasaka Drivens in the standings.
However, with the direct hit, Okada moves out of 1st place and into 3rd. Sitting with 25,600 is Yu, who moves up to 1st place and actually wins the game. With the win, Yu also gets the big oka/uma bonus. With Taro’s win, he denies his major rivals the 1st place bonus and thus minimizes his losses.
The resulting final score was historic, with 1st and 4th only separated by 1,600. Yu gets the lowest 1st place in M-League history and Taro gets the highest 4th place in M-League history.
Honourable Mention: Double Yakuman Tenpai???
Last season was sort of a weird one. Out of all 262 games of the regular season, there was not a single yakuman. This marked the first M-League season ever to not have a yakuman.
However, we did get close. On the final day of the 2023-24 regular season, Hori got close to a dealer double yakuman. Very close.
March 29, Game 2, S2-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3053
In S2-0, Hori is the dealer in 3rd place, a long ways away from 2nd place Asami and 1st place Katsumata.
With Hori’s first 14 tiles, his hand is full of honours and terminals. Though he is in a bad position for a standard hand, he is 3-shanten for both chiitoi and kokushi. If he can manage to get the yakuman, that would instantly put him into 1st place.
On turn 4, he draws the 9p to put him one step closer, needing only a 9s, 1m and red dragon for the yakuman. On turn 5, he draws a pair of wests. Though he had already given up on the chiitoi after breaking the 9m pair, he does have the possibility of going for shousuushii/daisuushii, tsuuiisou or even both. On turn 10, he pairs up the east. A turn later, he pairs up the white dragon. With five honour pairs, including all the winds, the stage is set for a double yakuman. One tile of each pair is still in the wall.
However, Hori isn’t the only person at the table who wants to win. Everyone at the table has been building their hand, looking to win 1st. At the end of the second row, Daisuke is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen, guaranteed at least a haneman if he wins.
Immediately after, Katsumata gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 369s wait. During the ippatsu round, Hori makes the souths into a triplet to get to 2-shanten. Right after, Asami discards the whtie dragon to maintain her iishanten and Hori calls pon. He just needs two of the east, west and north to get the big 96,000.
As Hori reaches iishanten, Asami gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen.
Hori is facing off against three players in tenpai, but two of them are forced to discard even if they don’t want to. On the ippatsu turn, Hori draws the 2s. Though he avoids it, fans know the inevitable. On Daisuke’s turn, he draws and discards the east. At the same time, Hori gets to tenpai for the double yakuman and deals into Asami with the 2s.
Asami wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 8,000 plus one riichi stick, sinking Hori into the negatives.
2. All I Want For Christmas Is Yu
Some of us are happy with winning one game. Others, maybe two or three. Imagine winning five games in a row at the highest level.
Suzuki Yu (鈴木優) of the U-Next Pirates did this on December 25, 2023. He won his fifth game in a row, the first person in M-League history to do so. It was truly a momentous occasion.
December 25, Game 2, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5528
Going into this game, Suzuki Yu has won his last 4 games, tying the M-League record for most wins in a row. Going into S4-0 in 1st place, he has a definite chance of being the first player in M-League history to win five in a row. However, Kurosawa is in hot pursuit, sitting just 6,100 behind him and starting her South 4 dealership, the same seat where she had her own legendary performance.
Yu starts out the hand 2-shanten with a bunch of kanchans. With a 123m secured in hand, Yu will likely have to pursue pinfu or riichi. The first row doesn’t give him much, but he is able to get to iishanten by pairing up his red 5m. To his left, Kurosawa is 2-shanten with a pair of easts and a loosely connected 7s. In the second row, Kurosawa fills in a kanchan and makes a rare east pon to get to tenpai on a 69p ryanmen.
Soon after, Yu fills in a kanchan and gets to tenpai. With no yaku, Yu calls riichi on a 5s kanchan. Counting 5s, Kurosawa is holding onto three of them, leaving just the red 5s in the wall. Yu’s hope for five in a row rests on a red 5s. Kurosawa and Yu exchange draws and discards, feeling relief and disappointment at the same time. Near the end of the second row, Yu draws the red 5s, does a double take and declares tsumo. Yu wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 2 for 2,000/4,000 to be the first player in M-League history to win five games in a row.
https://twitter.com/jellicode/status/1739286535143333952
With this historic win, it was the perfect Christmas gift for all M-League fans!
Honourable Mention: Chiihou
This wasn’t even in an M-League game, but it is arguably one of the most iconic moments in M-League history. An extremely rare yakuman happening on the M-League stage. In fact, it was the only yakuman to occur during the span of the season. It even inspired a joke article about the staff member replacing Matsumoto.
Before the start of each game, the staff go through a mock M-League game to make sure that all the equipment can cameras work and that everyone knows their cues. During this rehearsal, one of the staff members got a chiihou! This staff member even made a brief appearance during the first game’s interviews. Unfortunately, since it wasn’t an official M-League game, they did not receive a lifetime supply of noodles.
M-League released a video of the win and let everyone know the winner will be receiving one entire serving of Nissin UFO Yakisoba as a present!
1. Taro Time
In the 2022-23 season, Kurosawa Saki had an incredible 112,700 win that we thought would never be beat. Little did we know what Suzuki Taro (鈴木たろう) was going to do on February 26, 2024…
February 26, Game 2
In S2-4, Taro has a 2-shanten hand, but he has two penchans and a kanchan. In the first row, Taro picks up a pair of white dragons to replace a penchan and fills in the kanchan to get to iishanten. On turn 6, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7p penchan. Near the end of the second row, Taro draws the 7p and wins the hand. With a flip of the uradora, Taro’s white dragon pair becomes dora to upgrade his hand to a mangan. Taro wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Ura 2 for 4,000+400 all.
With that, Taro is at 106,100. He becomes just the fifth person to break the 100,000 barrier after
- February 18, 2021: Sasaki Hisato gets to 100,400 by E2-3, finishes the game at 94,000
- November 18 2021: Date Arisa gets to 108,500 at S3-5, finishes the game with 105,500
- December 2, 2021: Asakura Koushin gets to 104,900 at S4-1, Finishes the game with 102,400
- November 7, 2022: Kurosawa Saki gets to 113,700 in S4-9, finishes the game with 112,700
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2046
In S2-5, Taro has a messier hand this time, being 3-shanten for chiitoi. However, with the winds of luck flowing in his direction, we wouldn’t be surprised if he can make the shortcut to haneman happen. On turns 2 and 6, he pairs up the 1p and 4m, respectively, to get to iishanten. Pairing the east in the middle of the second row, Taro gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7p tanki, waiting with a suji trap. At the end of the row, he plucks the 7p from the wall and wins the hand. With luck continuing to flow through his veins, he flips the uradora to, for the third hand in row, get two uradora and upgrade his hand to a haneman. Taro wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Ura 2 for 6,000+500.
With that, Taro was now at 125,600, the highest any player has gotten in M-League history, beating out Kurosawa’s former record of 113,700 for a mid-game score.
This is kaze.
By the end of the game, Taro ends up with 112,800, holding the title for the highest final score ever in an M-League game by 100.
In total, many records were broken in the game.
- Highest hanchan score: 112,800 (+132.8) by Taro, beating out Kurosawa’s record of 112,700 (+132.7) from November 7, 2022
- Highest mid-game score: 127,100 by Taro, beating out Kurosawa’s record of 113,700 from November 7, 2022
- Lowest 3rd place: -9,700 (-49.7) by Ooi, beating out Okada’s record of -6,300 from January 14, 2020
- Highest single-day team score: +194.2 (+61.4 + 132.8) by Sonoda and Taro, beating Hinata and Matsumoto’s record of +183.9 (70.2 + 113.7) from April 29, 2021
In his 1st place interview, it was revealed that Taro didn’t know that he beat the record by 100. It was only after interviewer Matsumoto Kayo told him that he found out that he beat Kurosawa’s record by that small of a margin. In fact, he thought about calling riichi one hand and chose not to, saving him the record he didn’t know about.
And those are my top 5 (plus some honorable mentions) best plays of last season! What incredible plays do we have in store for next season? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see!
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