Game #8
Team Raiden
Akasaka
Drivens
Sega Sammy
Phoenix
U-Next Pirates
Furiten Is Fine
May 9, Game 2, E4-0
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p3012
In E4-0, Kurosawa is in 4th place and 3,200 behind 3rd place Daigo.
Kurosawa starts out the hand at 2-shanten, holding an east triplet, a 345s sequence (with the 3s beind dora and the 5s being red) and a 567s sequence. Naturally, the hand leans towards a souzu honitsu. Kurosawa discards pinzu and manzu tiles and does draw some souzu, but is unable to advance in the first row. At the end of the row, she is met with some resistance when dealer Nakabayashi calls riichi on a 47m ryanmen.
At the start of the second row, Kurosawa advances to iishanten with souzu honitsu still possible. However, in the middle of the second row, Kurosawa draws a dangerous 8m. Not wanting to discard it, especially with Nakabayashi’s riichi tile being the 6m, Kurosawa holds onto it. On her next turn, she draws a 7m. It gives her a potential tenpai, but she would be furiten on the 69m ryanmen. Even so, Kurosawa takes the tenpai and stays dama.
On Kurosawa’s very next turn, she draws the 9m and wins the hand. Kurosawa wins with Tsumo/East/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus a riichi stick, and unexpected win to come within 100 of 2nd place.
Daigo Flow
May 9, Game 2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s70_p3013
In S3-0, Daigo is the dealer in 4th place, 6,900 behind 3rd place Sonoda and 7,800 behind 2nd place Kurosawa.
Daigo starts out the hand at 4-shanten with pairs of 2s and 8m. If he opens the hand, he has a route to tanyao. In the first few turns, Daigo pairs up both the 8s and the 8p, giving the possibility for the rare sanshoku doukou. Towards the end of the first row, Daigo pairs up the 3s and gets to iishanten for chiitoi.
One after another, Daigo calls pon on both the 8s and 8m, getting to iishanten. With a 2s pon right after, Daigo gets to tenpai on a 3s/8p shanpon. If he wins off the 8p, he would win M-League’s very first sanshoku doukou.
Soon after, Nakabayashi get sto tenpai and stays dama on a 4m/5m shanpon.
On Sonoda’s turn, Sonoda calls riichi on a north/1m shanpon.
Drawing a dangerous 2m during the ippatsu round, Nakabayashi chooses to fold. When it comes back around to Daigo, he draws the 3s and wins the hand. Daigo wins the hand with Toitoi/Tanyao for 2,600 all plus a riichi stick, moving up to 2nd.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p4621
In S3-1, Daigo is now just 5,500 behind 1st place Nakabayashi.
Daigo starts out 4-shanten with a red 5p in hand. With a 123p sequence, there’s not much for Daigo can do but sit and wait with a closed hand. In the first row, Daigo makes two ryanmens and is a 3p away from a 123p iipeikou, getting to 2-shanten. At the start of the second row, he creates a 234m sequence for iishanten.
To his left, Sonoda is open with a green dragon triplet and aiming for honitsu. After calling a 123s chii, Sonoda gets to tenpai on a 4s kanchan.
Back to Daigo, he is 2-shanten and has given up on the iipeikou chance. As the third row went through, Daigo is still stuck in iishanten. Within the final go-around, Sonoda discards the 4p. Taking the opportunity, Daigo calls a 456p chii for tenpai and waits on a yakuless 47p ryanmen.
When we all expected for the hand to go to a draw and Daigo to continue his dealership, Sonoda draws the 7p on the very last tile in the wall. Wanting to keep tenpai, Sonoda discards it and deals into Daigo! Daigo wins the ahnd with Houtei/Dora 2/Aka 1 for an unexpected 12,000+300, moving up to 1st place.
Kei Time
May 9, Game 2
In S3-2, Nakabayashi is in 2nd place and 6,800 behind 1st place dealer Daigo.
Nakabayashi starts out the hand at 2-shanten for both a pairs and standard hand. He doesn’t have much value in hand, though. On turn 7, Nakabayashi fills in a 7s kanchan for iishanten.
On turn 8, Nakabayashi draws a red 5m to create a 47m ryanmen. On his very next turn, he creates a 567m sequence, discards the 4s and calls riichi on a 1s/9s shanpon. Within the go-around, Sonoda discards the 1s trying to call riichi and deals into Nakabayashi. Nakabayashi wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Aka 1 for 5,200+600.
In S4-0, Nakabayashi is the final dealer and now just 1,000 behind 1st place Daigo.
Nakabayashi starts out at 4-shanten with a secured red 5p and a connected dora 6s. On turn 2, Nakabayashi pairs up the east for a route to yakuhai. Two turns later, he calls pon on the east for 2-shanten. At the end of the first row, Nakabayashi calls a 456s chii and gets to iishanten. With a 456p chii in the second row, Nakabayashi gets to tenpai on a 25p ryanmen.
Within the go-around, Daigo calls a 234m chii and gets to tenpai on a 25p ryanmen.
With both players holding the same wait, there’s a chance that Nakabayashi will be headbumped. However, in the middle of the second row, Nakabayashi draws the 5p and wins the hand. Nakabayashi wins with East/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 2,000 all, moving into 1st place.
Final Scores
Standings
With Nakabayashi’s win, the U-Next Pirates have their first of these finals. They return above +200.0pts and are within 152.2pts away from 1st place again. With the Daigo getting a decent 2nd place and Sonoda getting a big 4th, the Sega Sammy Phoenix moves into 1st place again and has finished a day at the top for the first time these finals. Team Raiden drops a bit, but they remain in the positives.
And that’s all for the first week of the finals! One more we and we will have our champion! The scores remain relatively close and it’s still anybody’s game. Which team will raise the plate? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see!
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