Game #1
Akasaka
Drivens
Team Raiden
Sega Sammy
Phoenix
U-Next Pirates
Finals Start!
May 5, Game 1, E1-0
In E1-0, Hagiwara is in the starting south seat in the very first game of the M-League 2024-25 Finals, looking to make progress for the 4th place Team Raiden and get his first-ever 1st place in the finals.
Hagiwara starts out the hand at 2-shanten with a secured red 5s. The first row is is spent getting rid of honours and strengthening potential shapes. At the end of the first row, he fills in a 3p penchan to get to iishanten.
To his left, dealer Futoshi is 2-shanten with a connected dora 8s. With a bit of accelleration due to calls from Mizuhara, Futoshi gets to tenpai in the second row on a 4s tanki. A turn later, Futoshi switches to a 36p ryanmen and calls riichi, wanting the 6p for mangan minimum.
Back to Hagiwara, he has a perfect iishanten. During the ippatsu round, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 47s ryanmen. At the end of the row, Futoshi draws and discards the 4s and deals into Hagiwara. Hagiwara wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Aka 1 for 3,900.
Futoshi
May 5, Game 1, E3-0
In E3-0, Futoshi is in 4th place after dealing in during the very first hand. He sits 4,900 behind 3rd place Mizuhara, 7,400 behind 2nd place dealer Daigo and 9,300 behind 1st place Hagiwara.
Futoshi starts out the hand at 3-shanten with sequences in his future. The first five turns sets his hand up with two sequences and two ryanmens, looking to be a potential pinfu. However, he still has to find his pair. After breaking up a penchan, Futoshi pairs up a lone 5s at the start of the second row, securing pinfu and tanyao and calls riichi on a 36m ryanmen.
Across from him, dealer Daigo is already at iishanten with pinfu as well. With the good wait, he pushes. In the middle of the row, he chases and calls riichi on a 58m ryanmen, wanting the 5m for mangan minimum.
At the start of the third row, Futoshi draws the 6m and wins the hand. Futoshi wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Pinfu/Tanyao for 1,300/2,600 plus a riichi stick, enough to move up to 2nd place.
Daigo Dora
May 5, Game 1, S1-0
In S1-0, Daigo is in 3rd place, 2,200 behind 2nd place Hagiwara and 5,400 behind 1st place dealer Futoshi.
Daigo starts out the hand with pairs of west, the 4m dora, the 5m and 8s. With the west being his yakuhai, he could go open his hand and go the standard route. The first row gives him a 6788s shape, as well as a third 4m dora, setting him up for a potential mangan. At the end of the row, he calls pon on the west to get to iishanten.
At the start of the second row, he calls pon on the 8s and gets to tenpai on a 58s ryanmen.
Two turns later, Hagiwara gets to tenpai for a pairs hand and waits dama on a 6m tanki. On his next draw, he switches his wait and calls riichi on an 8p tanki.
Near the end of the second row, Hagiwara draws and discards the 8s and deals into Daigo. Daigo wins the hand with West/Dora 3 for 8,000 plus a riichi stick, moving Daigo up to 1st and Hagiwara down to 4th.
Red Get
May 5, Game 1, S2-0
In S2-0, Hagiwara is the dealer in 4th place, 5,600 behind 3rd place Mizuhara.
Hagiwara starts out the hand at 3-shanten with a triplet of 7s and a 456p sequence. His first few turns are effective in strengthening blocks, but is still looking for some sort of good wait. By the end of the first row, he is 2-shanten.
At the start of the second row, he fills in a 7p penchan to get to iishanten. A turn later, he gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 25p ryanmen. He has no other yaku, but a good wait is a good wait.
At the end of the second row, Mizuhara gets to tenpai on an 8s dora tanki for mangan minimum. However, on Hagiwara’s next turn, Hagiwara draws his winning red 5p and wins the hand. Hagiwara wins the hand with Riichi/Tsumo/Aka 1 for 2,000 all, enough to move up to 3rd place.
Daigo Dora
May 5, Game 1, S2-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4618
In S2-1, Daigo is in 1st place, but the scores are close. 4th place Mizuhara is just a mangan tsumo away from overtaking him. Daigo wants to widen the gap and win the game, just like how he started and ended the semifinals with a win.
Daigo starts of the hand at 3-shanten, leaning towards tanyao with a connected dora 6s. After discarding all his terminals and honours in the first row, Daigo is already iishanten. However, right when things start looking good, Futoshi calls riichi and waits on a 78m wait.
At the start of the second row, Daigo gets to tenpai and stays dama on a 4m kanchan. However, when he draws an additional 6s dora, he breaks his 2p pair to leave tenpai and tries to work around it.
Towards the end of the second row, Hagiwara gets to tenpai, throws the dora 6s and calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen.
With the 6s, Daigo calls a 678s chii, leaving the other two 6s as his pair and getting him to tenpai on a 4m kanchan.
In the third row, Futoshi draws and discards the 4m and deals into Daigo. Daigo wins the hand with Tanyao/Dora 3 for 8,000+300 plus a two riichi sticks, extending his lead and pushing Futohsi into 4th place.
Hagiwara Haneman
May 5, Game 1, S3-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p5125
In S3-0, Hagiwara is in 2nd place, 19,100 behind 1st place dealer Daigo and 4,100 away from falling into 4th place.
Hagiwara starts out with a very strong 2-shanten hand with a triplet of 8s and a pair of green dragons. On turn 2, Hagiwara makes that green dragon pair into a triplet. On turn 3, he completes a 234m sequence to get to iishanten. The main focus he has now is to either draw a 6s dora to connect the 7888s shape, or to connect the isolated red 5p. Towards the end of the third row, Hagiwara draws a red 5m and shifts to a 345m sequence.
At the start of the second row, Hagiwara draws a 6p for tenpai and calls riichi on a 47p ryanmen. Though he doesn’t get his winning tile on the ippatsu round, he does draws a fourth 8s and calls a concealed kan. The rinshan nor the kandora don’t help immediately, but the extra uradora could.
In the middle of the row, Hagiwara draws the 7p and wins the hand. Hitting an uradora, Hagiwara wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Green Dragon/Aka 2/Ura 1 for 3,000/6,000, putting him just 1,100 shy of 1st place.
Final Scores
Standings
With Daigo’s win here and the perfect placement by the Futoshi and Mizuhara, the Sega Sammy Phoenix are in 1st place with one fell swoop. But, the scores remain close with 15 games left to play. For Team Raiden, there is the bright side of returning to the positives.
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