Game #4
Team Raiden
EX Furinkazan
Beast X
Konami Mahjong
Fight Club
Over 50,000
April 5, Game 2, E3-1
In E3-1, Tojo is the dealer in 1st place, having almost double the score of 2nd place.
Tojo starts off at 3-shanten with a secured dora 2s and a connected red 5p. On her second turn, she draws a 6p to create a 455678p shape, very flexible in creating sequences. The rest of the first row is a bust, but at the start of the second row, she gets a 7p, putting her at a ryanmen-ryanmen iishanten. A turn later, she completes a 789p sequence and calls riichi on a 36p ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan.
A few turns later, 3rd place Uchikawa calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen.
Unfortunately for him, Uchikawa ends up drawing and discarding the 3p during the ippatsu round and deals into Tojo. Tojo wins the hand with Riichi/Pinfu/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 12,000+300 plus a riichi stick, moving her to 55,400.
Shortcut to Haneman
April 5, Game 2, E4-1
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p10068
In E4-1, Honda is tied for 2nd place with Date, wanting to make space between the two of them and potentially chase Tojo who is 29,600 ahead.
Honda starts out the hand at 4-shanten with bad shapes (save for a 36s ryanmen). There is some value, but the 1p dora is part of a penchan and the red 5p is floating. On turn 2, he pairs up the 2p and on turn 3, he pairs up the 8m. Having started with two pairs, his hand is now leaning towards seven pairs. On turn 5, he gets his fifth pair for iishanten.
Looking around the table, Tojo is already iishanten and Date gets to iishanten on turn 6. At the end of the first row, Tojo is the first to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7p/7m shanpon, laying the Ishibashi trap of throwing the red 5m to make the 7m look safe.
Two turns later, Date chases with a 69p ryanmen.
And right after her, Honda gets his sixth pair and calls riichi on a 5p tanki. Before the row is done, he draws the 5p and wins the hand. Honda wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Chiitoi/Dora 2/Aka 1 for 3,000+100/6,000+100 plus two riichi sticks, taking sole 2nd place and cutting Tojo’s lead down to 11,200 going into Honda’s dealership.
Date the Destroyer
May 5, Game 2
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8573
In S1-0, Date is in 3rd place, 21,400 behind 2nd place dealer Honda and 32,600 behind 1st place Tojo. Half of the game is gone and she has one more half to make a comeback.
Date starts out the hand with pairs of 1m, 6m, 9s and north. With a single red dragon dora waiting to be paired, a shortcut to haneman is possible. On turn 2, she pairsup the 2p for iishanten. On her next turn, she adds a 1p pair and calls riichi on the red dragon tanki. Within the go-around, Uchikawa discards the red dragon and deals into Date. Date wins the hand with Riichi/Ippatsu/Chiitoi/Dora 2 for 12,000.
In S2-0, she starts out with a very quick hand, being iishanten with a chance to double riichi. She doesn’t get the tile that she needs, but it allows her time to improve. On turn two, she gets an incredible upgrade of a red 5p, giving her a three-sided wait and some value. On turn 4, she fills in that three-sided wait and calls riichi on a 6m/south shanpon.
Towards the end of the second row, Tojo discards the south trying to keep her iishanten and deals into Date. Getting and uradora as well, Date wins the hand with Riichi/South/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 8,000. With the direct hit off 1st place, Date is now just 4,600 from the lead.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p8574
In S3-0, Date isn’t blessed with quite as good of a hand as before, but she is still 3-shanten with two ryanmens and a floating dora green dragon. In the first row, she makes a hand with a triplet of 8m and pairs of 2p, 2s and the double south. WIth these good shapes (along with a ryanmen), she discards the floating green dragon.
At the start of the second row, she adds a 1p pair to her hand, putting her iishanten for seven pairs and giving her a route to all triplets. In the middle of the row, she goes for it by calling pon on the 2s and getting to iishanten.
Immediately after, Honda gets to tenpai and calls riichi on an 8p kanchan. Though he has no other yaku, the riichi can be critical in closing the 3,200 gap between him and Tojo, especially if he can get the tsumo and ura.
Within the go-around, Date draws a third 1p and gets to tenpai on a 2p/south shanpon. Only a single south is in the wall but if she draws it, she will get a haneman. On her very next draw, she gets the south and wins the hand. Date wins with Toitoi/Sanankou/Double South for 3,000/6,000, taking a 14,400 lead going into her dealership.
In S4-0, Date starts at 4-shanten with some good shapes and a floating dora 5m. On turn 2, she pairs up the east, giving her a potential yaku route. At the end of the row, she pairs up the 5m dora to get to a standard 2-shanten (iishanten for seven pairs).
Looking at the seven pairs route, Date breaks the 7s from her 5667s group. But on her next turn, she draws a 7m to create a 5567m shape. With her hand getting back to a potential standard hand and having a chance to get a sanshoku, she breaks her 9p pair. As she does that, she makes triplets of east and 6s to get to iishanten. At the end of the row, she gets to tenpai and waits dama on a 58m ryanmen, with the 5m giving her a mangan.
To her left, Tojo is in 2nd place and just 1,200 ahead of 3rd place Honda. Though 1st place is out of reach, she wants to gain points to secure 2nd place. Having already called pon on the 2m she is iishanten. In the 3rd row, she completes a 456m sequence and waits on an 8m/2p shanpon.
Her hope doesn’t last long as Date draws the 8m immediately after and wins the hand. Date wins with Tsumo/East/Dora 2 for 4,000 all, taking her up to 59,900
Final Scores
Standings
Thanks to Date’s incredible south round comeback, the Konami Mahjong Fight Club take the lead in the standings. It’s not a small lead either, being over 100.0pts above the 2nd place EX Furinkazan. On the other end of that lead, Uchikawa only dealt in twice but ended up with a deep -19,200 4th place. As for Team Raiden and Beast X, they fought quite closely at the end, but it was Tojo beating Honda by 1,200, allowing her team to make ground and be just 11.7pts from 3rd place.
And that’s all for today! We’re already a quarter of the way through the finals! We have a new leader, but it’s still anybody’s game. Can the Konami Mahjong Fight club hold onto their lead to get their first championship? Can the Beast X climb back up? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see!
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