RMC Originals - M League Updates

Rumor has it that Abema TV will start streaming its contents in countries outside of Japan starting in April.

This means that we will no longer need VPN to watch M League!!

Occasionally, they post livestreams and videos onto their YouTube Page. But unfortunately at the time of this article, their video contents were region locked…

We can only hope that Abema TV’s move to streaming contents outside of Japan means that we can see more of their contents with English subtitles or even English dubbing!

Their latest livestream can be watched through their Twitter page.

I was able to watch the live stream, and wow….it did not disappoint! You can watch the entire live stream HERE.

If you follow M League, you probably know that their are down to the last stretch in the final four. Although the top 2 teams have a strong lead, anything can happen with the remaining 12 Han-Chans depending on how big the wins are and seat positioning.

When I tuned in, Takaharu Ooi Pro from Shibuya Abemas had a big lead. When Aki Nikaido Pro from Konami Mahjong Fight Club was dealer at Ton/East 4, she Riichied.

Although Ooi Pro had a big lead, he pushed the 7 Man when he became Ten-Pai and did not Riichi. People were confused in the YouTube comments by this choice. This was at the 1:00:00 mark.

Kotaro Uchikawa Pro, who was commentating on the match, said that although it was a “One-Chance” situation with the 7 Man because there were already several 6 Mans discarded, it was still a very strong move. These plays were not seen by Ooi Pro in the regular season, but because they were behind in the final four placements, he aimed for a bigger point win as the 1st placed player of that game.

A little over a minute after, Ooi Pro draws the red 5 Pin and wins the heated battle.

This was an amazing scene for me at the time. The strong mental approach of a team leader won that match.

Well…..until…..the next round….

Game goes into Nan/South 1 with 1 Honba, and with Yudai Maehara Pro continuing the dealer.

He starts his opening had 2 Hakus, 2 Chuns and 1 Hatsu. His first draw was….the Hatsu…

If you know your Yakus, this is calling for a Dai-San-Gen.

Ooi Pro discards a Hatsu and Mehari Pro immediately calls Pon. He then calls Pon for the 1 Sou to increase more draw chances, and then draws his 3rd Haku. He also has a 3S, 6S, 4M and the 2 Chuns.

After that, he calls another Pon for the Chun that was discarded and discards the 4M. He didn’t have to aim for the additional Hon-Its, but as the dealer, he wanted to secure a win regardless. The game froze in time for a brief second as the players sense a strange vibe in the game room…

This was all within 5 turns of the start of the game.

At this point, Maehara Pro Has called Pon for Hatsu, 1S and Chun. He also has a closed Haku and has a 3S and 6S and discards the 6S, and keeps the 3S Tanki wait.

Maehara Pro then decides to switch to a 1P Tanki wait and discards the 3S. Note that a 1P was discarded one turn prior by another player.

Ooi Pro then draws a 4S and decides to discard the 1P….

From being 1st place, Ooi Pro deals into a dealer Yakuman…..

Amazing…. You never know what happens in Mahjong!

You can watch the Tenpai moment HERE and the actual win HERE.