Thursday (March 27)

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Game 1

Cherry Blossom Season

March 27, Game 1

In E2-0, Shibukawa is playing in the Kadokawa Sakura Knights’ final day of the regular season. With the team sitting in 7th place and 213.2pts behind the 6th place Shibuya Abemas, the team must get two 1sts in order to have a chance at going to the playoffs.

Going into the hand, Shibukawa is the dealer and just barely in 1st place with only 4,500 separating him and 4th place.

Shibukawa starts out the hand with pairs of west, 6m and 7m, putting him 3-shanten for a pairs hand and 4-shanten from a standard hand. With all but a few tiles being either honours or manzu, the obvious path is a honitsu. Early on, he calls pon on the 7m to confirm this pursuit. Over the next few turns, he pairs up the red dragon, calls pon on the west, then calls pon on the 6m to get to tenpai on a 25m ryanmen.

In the middle of the second row, Shibukawa draws the 2m and wins the hand. Shibukawa wins with Honitsu only for 1,300 all.

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In E2-1, Shibukawa is 5-shanten with a jumble of shapes, though it does lean slightly towards sequences. The first row only creates one sequence, but it does give him some other sequence candidates and gets him to 2-shanten.

On turn 7, he is met with a challenge as Sonoda gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7m penchan.

Though met with a riichi, he doesn’t have much choice but to push a bit. As he improves his potential sequences, he just tosses out dangerous tiles in pursuit of his own hand. At the end of the second row, he gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 3p kanchan, a tile safe against Shibukawa.

When the hand comes around to Shiratori, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen, guaranteed at least a haneman if he wins, enough to overtake Shibukawa.

Then, immediately after, Shibukawa draws the 3p and wins the hand. Shibukawa wins with Tsumo/Tanyao for 1,000+100 all plus two riichi sticks.

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In E2-2, Shibukawa is 4-shanten and only has riichi as its possible yaku. In the middle of the first row, he pairs up the easts to give him an opening option.

To his left, Shiratori has already called pon on the white dragon and is close to tenpai. In the middle of the first row, Shiratori fills in a 3s penchan and gets to tenpai on a 7m dora wait. In the second row, he switches to a better 47p ryanmen wait.

With Shiratori’s discarded 7m, Shibukawa calls a 789m chii. With his hand, he can now call a 456m chii to get ittsuu, or call the double east for double yakuhai. Whichever one he gets, he will be tenpai.

Right after, Sonoda gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 5p kanchan.

Two turns after Shibukawa completes a 345m sequence. It’s not the one he needs for ittsuu, but it does get him to tenpai on an east/8s shanpon. Because he doesn’t have any yaku confirmed, he is only allowed to win on the east.

Around the end of the row, Shiratori draws and discards the east and deals into Shibukawa Shibukawa wins the hand with Double East/Dora 1 for 5,800+600 plus a riichi stick, moving him up to 44,600.

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Houtei

March 27, Game 1, E3-0

In E3-0, Rumi is in 3rd place, 3,700 behind 2nd place dealer Sonoda.

Rumi starts out the hand at 4-shanten with not much remarkable going on in the hand. The first row, though, gifts her with a lot of goodies. Forming sequences, she also has a red 5s and a red 5p secured and a pair of white dragons. By the end of the row, she is iishanten.

However, she has to be careful of Shibukawa, who has already called a 456m and 678m sequence. Around the end of the second row, Shibukawa calls pon on the east to get to tenpai and waits on a 14p ryanmen. However, none remain in the wall.

Going back to Rumi’s hand, she has a 244456p shape, which could be dangerous if she draws a 3p dora. In the third row, she draws a 69s and has a choice between throwing the 4p (for the 3p kanchan) and throwing the 2p (for the wide 47p/white dragon wait). Rumi chooses the latter, avoiding a deal-in.

On the very last tile, Shiratori has a chance to be tenpai and has to choose to throw the white dragon and the north. Sitting in 4th place, taking a tenpai seems like a good option. Seeing that the white dragon was already discarded by the likely-tenpai Shibukawa, Shiratori throws the white dragon and deals into Rumi.

Rumi wins the hand with Riichi/Houtei/White Dragon/Aka 2 for 8,000, moving up to 2nd.

Above 50k

March 27, Game 1, S2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p3114

In S2-1, Shibukawa still has a strong lead, but looks to go even further and close the standings gap on the Shibuya Abemas. His final dealership is the perfect time to do it.

Shibukawa starts out the hand at 3-shanten, though he doesn’t really have much in terms of value. In the first few turns, the wall gives him a 567p sequence and a 24m block (with the 2m being the dora) to get him to iishanten. On turn 5, he fills in the 3m kanchan to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 1s/west shanpon.

Within the go-around, Rumi draws and discards the west and deals into Shibukawa. Shibukawa wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Dora 1 for 7,700+300.

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Sneaky Shiratori

March 27, Game 1, S4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4115

In S4-0, Shiratori is in 3rd place, 1,100 ahead of 4th place Rumi and 7,600 behind 2nd place Sonoda. With a 3/30 direct hit, a 3/50 or 4/25 tsumo, or a mangan ron, he can move up to 2nd place. However, one wrong move can put him into 4th and could put the team in trouble going into the final game.

Shiratori starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a connected dora 3p and sequences as the path. However, in order to make pinfu into a possibility, he will have to find a pair, make one more ryanmen and fill in a 3s penchan.

On turn 2, he pairs up the 2m. One step done.

On turn 3, he creates a 36m ryanmen. Two steps done. All he has to do is get the 3s or replace the shape with a ryanmen somewhere else.

Then at the start of the second row, he draws the 3s. He calls riichi and waits on a 36m ryanmen.

Whether by ron or tsumo, he will need one more han in order to have enough.

Then, during the ippatsu round, he gets his one han. Pushing to keep her iishanten, Rumi the dealer in 4th place draws and discards the 3m and deals into Shiratori.

Shiratori wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Pinfu/Dora 1 for 8,000, finishing the game in 2nd place by just 400.

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Results

Game 213

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Game 2

Abemas Action

March 27, Game 2, E3-0

In E3-0, Shiratori has two main goals for the game. The first is to avoid a big last place to secure the team above the Kadokawa Sakura Knights and EX Furinkazan. The second is to increase his very thin 0.1pts lead over Daigo in the individual standings, hoping to put him in a good position before Daigo and the rest of the challengers play tomorrow.

Going into this hand, Shiratori is in 3rd place, 6,800 behind 2nd place dealer Hori and 10,100 behind 1st place Sonoda.

Shiratori starts the hand at 2-shanten with a pair of red dragons and a secured 1m dora. The first row doesn’t provide him with much at all, though he does make a good wait extremely likely. At the start of the second row, he draws a red 5p and gets to a perfect iishanten. A turn later, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 69s ryanmen.

Aroudn the start of the third row, Hori discards the 6s and deals into Shiratori. Shiratori wins the hand with Riichi/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 8,000.

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Sho

March 27, Game 2, S1-1

In S1-1, Shiratori is in 1st place and has a small 1,500 lead over 2nd place Sonoda.

Shiratori starts off the hand at 2-shanten with a loosely-connected dora 1p. On turn 4, he pairs up the 1p to more firmly secure his value. On turn 5, he creates a 69s ryanmen to get to iishanten. A few turns later, he draws a 6s to get to tenpai and calls riichi on a 5m kanchan.

At the end of the second row, Shiratori draws the final 5m and wins the hand. Shiratori wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 2 for 2,000+100/4000+100.

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Hori Gets Hit

March 27, Game 2, S2-0

In S2-0, Matsugase is in 4th place and 2,500 behind 3rd place Hori. Hori needs to win as many points as he can and push Shiratori as low as possible as the only way for the Kadokawa Sakura Knights to make the playoffs. Matsugase just wants to finish the EX Furinkazan’s season on a positive note.

Before Matsugase even gets his first draw, Shiratori calls pon on the yakuhai east to get his hand going. When we do see Matsugase’s hand, he has three ryanmens and a connected dora 3p. Soon after, Shiratori calls pon on the 1m and gets to iishanten.

As the turns go on, it’s a battle between Matsugase and Shiratori. At the end of he first row, Matsugase is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on an 8p tanki.

With Matsugase’s discarded 7p, Shiratori calls a 567p chii and gets to tenpai on a 6m kanchan.

Seeing Shiratori’s advancing, Shiratori decides to call a tsumogiri riichi. During the ippatsu round, Hori discards the 8p and deals into Matsugase. Matsugase wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Tanyao/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 8,000, a devastating blow to Hori and the Kadokawa Sakura Knights.

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Yakuman Tenpai!!!

March 27, Game 2, S3-2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p2123

In S3-2, Sonoda is in 2nd place and 9,900 behind 1st place Sonoda. In the individual standings, Sonoda sits 65.7pts behind Shiratori at the top of the standings. If Sonoda can get to 1st place, he will just a 25,700 lead over 2nd place Shiratori to be at the top of the individual standings. Two riichi sticks and two honba will boost the next winner’s hand.

At the start, Sonoda has four different terminals and four different honours. Though he could go for a standard hand, he is 5-shanten from it. In fact, he is 4-shanten for both thirteen orphans and seven pairs.

As such, Sonoda decides to cut a 6s as his first discard. Though the first row, he discards solely middle tiles and draws one more type.

To his left, Hori is the dealer and has his last opportunity to make a big comeback. Sitting iishanten, he also has a red 5p double dora in hand. In the second row, he pairs up the 7s and shifts to tanyao. At the the end of the second row, Hori calls pon on the 7m and gets to tenpai on a 7p kanchan.

Back at Sonoda, he has made quite the advancement. By the time Hori got to tenpai, Sonoda was iishanten, just waiting on the 9s and the 1m.

On Sonoda’s turn, he draws the 9s. He gets to tenpai for thirteen orphans and waits on a 1m.

One 1m remains in the wall.

Immediately after, Matsugase draws the 1m. After taking a few seconds he manages to avoid it by discarding the 8m. However, on his next turn, he draws a 9m to complete a 789m sequence. Wanting to take tenpai, Matsugase tries to call riichi and discards the 1m.

And with that, Sonoda calls ron. Sonoda wins the hand with a big Kokushi Musou yakuman for 32,000+600 plus two riichi sticks, rocketing Sonoda up to 60,400, holding a 24,700 lead over Shiratori. He only needs 1,000 more to move into 1st place in the individual standings.

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MVP Battle

March 27, Game 2

In S4-1, Sonoda is the final dealer and 23,700 ahead of 2nd place Shiratori. Sonoda needs to get the gap up to 25,700 to move up to 1st place in the individual standings. A riichi stick and a honba sit in the pot. Any win will be enough to get there.

Sonoda starts out the hand 3-shanten with a secured red 5m. In the first row, Sonoda fills in an 8m kanchan and creates a 57p block to get to iishanten. His remaining blocks are a 3p penchan and a 6p kanchan.

Around the middle of the second row, Sonoda draws a red 5p, able to upgrade it to a triplet. A turn later, he draws a third 5p and calls riichi on a 3p penchan.

In the middle of the third row, Sonoda draws the final 3p in the wall and wins the hand. Sonoda wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 2 for 4,000+300 all plus a riichi stick, boosting Sonoda up to 74,200 and increasing the gap to 41,100.

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Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4116

In S4-2, the gap between Sonoda and Shiratori is up to 41,100. If Sonoda can get a haneman this hand, he will beat Daisuke’s highest hanchan record of 91,300. For Shiratori, he needs to get the gap back down to less than 25,700, which will require a mangan direct hit, a haneman tsumo or a baiman ron take back the lead.

Sonoda starts out the hand at 3-shanten with pairs of west, 1s and 6p. He can choose to either the standard or the pairs route. For Shiratori, he is 3-shanten with a connected dora 6s, a red 5p as part of a pair, and a pair of white dragons. Very quickly, Sonoda adds a 1m and 9m pair to his arsenal, getting him to seven pairs iishanten. When he has an option to create a 567899m shape to connect to the red 5m, he chooses to discard the 6m, going all in on seven pairs.

Turns out, seven pairs was the way to go. Just two turns later, Sonoda pairs up the 8s and calls riichi on a 6s tanki. If he draws it himself he will have a haneman.

Back to Shiratori, he has already gotten rid of the white dragon to aim for pinfu and tanyao. By this point, he is at 2-shanten. At the start of the second row, he gets to a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten, guaranteeing pinfu. Two turns later, he completes a 678p sequence and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen.

With Riichi/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 1 in hand, he needs to win by tsumo or get a direct hit off Sonoda to retake the MVP title.

With each turn, all M-League fans are on edge, seeing which one will be victorious. At the end of the second row, Matsugase draws Sonoda’s final 6s, leaving him with an empty hand.

It’s all up to Shiratori with three winning tiles left. Every draw by Shiratori, every draw by Sonoda could be Shiratori’s victory.

Then In the middle of the third row, Shiratori draws the 8s and wins the hand! Shiratori wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 1 for 3,000+200/6,000+200 plus a riichi stick.

And with that, Shiratori finishes the season with +404.0pts, just ahead of 2nd place Sonoda at +398.6pts.

Shiratori holds the top spot in the individual standings with one more game day left to go.

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Results

Game 214

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Intro | Standings