Game #12
Konami Mahjong
Fight Club
Team Raiden
Beast X
EX Furinkazan
Katsu. Mata. Mata. Mata. Mata
May 12, Game 2
In E1-0, Katsumata is playing for the EX Furinkazan, wanting to continue the work that Uchikawa had started.
With his starting hand, he is already 2-shanten with a pair of easts, a pair of 8p dora and a secured 5m dora. On turn 2, he gets to iishanten. Drawing a third east on turn 5, Katsumata gets to tenpai. Instead of taking an 8p/3m shanpon, he instead discards a dora 8p and calls riichi on a 69p ryanmen, guaranteed at least a mangan.
Getting to iishanten during the ippatsu round, dealer Takamiya pushes. At the start of the second row, Takamiya gets to tenpai and calls riichi on a 7s penchan, even though she has no other value.
By the end of the second row, Katsumata has one winning tile left while Takamiya has one left. On the 9th-last tile, Setokuma draws the last 7s, leaving Takamiya empty and Katsumata safe. On Katsumata’s draw, he gets the 9p and wins the hand. Katsumata wins with Riichi/Tsumo/East/Dora 1/Aka 1 for 2,000/4,000 plus a riichi stick.
In E2-0, Katsumata starts at 2-shanten with pairs of red dragon and white dragon, gifted with two yaku opportunities. In the first row, he clls both of them and draws a red 5s to get to iishanten. Before he can get to tenpai, though, Setokuma gets there first and calls riichi, throwing the red 5p and waiting on the 3p.
During the ippatsu ound, Katsumata gets to tenpai on a 6s kanchan. It’s a battle between the dealer riichi only and the open mangan. Towards the end of the second row, Katsumata draws the 6s and wins the hand. Katsumata wins with Red Dragon/White Dragon/Aka 2 for 2,000/4,000 plus a riichi stick, taking him to 43,000.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7576
Jumping to E4-0, Katsumata is now the dealer and starts out at a disappointing 3-shanten hand with three penchans. Right off the bat, Katsumata gets rid of his 89s block to look for something better. As soon as he is rid of it, he has a souzu ryanmen. Through the rest of the first row, Katsumata fills in the 3p penchan and 7m penchan for iishanten.
At the start of the second row, he makes a 2m pair and calls riichi only on a 25s ryanmen, wanting the 5s dora for value.
Two turns later, Setokuma cashes with a 58s ryanmen. If he wins off the 5s, he will have a mangan.
Within the go-around, Katsumata draws the 5s and wins the hand. Hitting the uradora, Katsumata wins with Riichi/Tsumo/Dora 1/Ura 1 for 4,000 all plus a riichi stick, moving him up to 56,000.
Video: https://abema.tv/video/episode/444-1_s5_p7577
Fast forward to S4-1, Katsumata is the dealer again and is 2-shanten with a secured red 5p (as part of a 345p sequence) and a connected dora 4s. On turn 2, he pairs up the north to advance to iishanten. Making a ryanmen in manzu, he guarantees himself pinfu and mangan minimum. On turn 4, he finishes a 345m sequence and calls riichi on a 25s ryanmen. A 5s win will give him at least a dealer haneman.
In the middle of the second row, Shimoishi completes a 123p sequence to get to tenpai. With a 123s sequence and a 135m shape, he has a chance at sanshoku, but would have to discard the 5m to take it. Wanting that value, Shimoishi discards the 5m and deals into Katsumata. As if the dealer haneman wasn’t enough, the flip makes his north pair into the new dora and upgrades him to a baiman! Katsumata wins with Riichi/Pinfu/Sanshoku/Dora 1/Aka 1/Ura 2 for 24,000+300, taking him up to 76,100.
In S4-2, Katsumata starts at 3-shanten with two ryanmens and a pair of white dragons. On turn 2, he pairs up the south to give him another yaku possibility. At the end of the row, he draws the last white dragon to finish a triplet and get to iishanten.
At the start of the second row, he draws a third south to get yet another yakuhai triplet and calls riichi on a 58p ryanmen. 2nd place Setokuma folds even as he has tenpai, and Takamiya is very careful in her movements. Shimoishi, on the other hand, is pushing and trying to escape 4th. In the middle of the second row, he calls a concealed kan of the 3s and makes the 8p the new dora. With his floating 8p, Shimoishi ends up hurting himself and discards his north pair to avoid throwing it.
In the third row, Katsumata draws the 5p and wins the hand. Katsumata wins with Riichi/Tsumo/South/White Dragon/Ura 1 for 4,000+200 all, going up to 88,700.
Final Scores
Standings
With Katsumata’s 88,700 win, he has the highest win ever in an M-League finals. With this huge win and Shimoishi’s deep loss, it’s a 181.8pts swing between the two teams. With this big swing, the EX Furinkazan now leads the Beast X by 133.8pts. With Takamiya placing above Shimoishi, she cuts the gap between them to just 7.5pts. And though Team Raiden was faced with a difficult situation, they anaged to eke out some points to move just a bit closer to the top three.
And that’s all for the final Tuesday of the M-League 2025-26 Finals! Only two more days, four more games, before our champions are crowned. Can the EX Furinkazan hold onto their lead? Will another player beat Katsumata’s record? As always, we’ll just have to wait and see!
M-League Watch 