Captain Quarterfinals Part VI – Saki Strikes Back!

When we last left the game, Kasumi is dominating using her god mode! Which wouldn’t do for our brown haired protagonist for Kasumi has reached the point where any wins from her will make it significantly harder for Saki to get +/- zero and first place.

Though, stopping Kasumi was easier said than done. As we have noted in our previous analysis, Saki may or may not have tried to do so in the last hand; only for Kasumi to win before her.

And it looked like Kasumi wasn’t obliging again this time.

Holly Molly isn’t getting that sort of hand regularly kinda cheating?! 

 To those who want to know that hand is tenpai for a 1 of characters and a 9 of characters. But, more importantly, is that hand’s value.

Chinitsu = 6 han

1 dora = 1 han

And since this also likely to be a self pick = another 1 han

For a total of 8 han. Meaning its a baiman!  16,000 points since Kasumi is not the dealer.  (The dealer for this round is Saki btw. which means she has more than enough reason to stop Kasumi from doing a tsumo. ^^)

It also good to note that this hand can be developed into  a suu-ankou yakuman very easily.

Though, judging from Kasumi’s behavior last time (she also has a chance to get a suu-ankou but Kasumi chose to take the lower valued but faster win. Which incidentally is the right call since there is a very high chance that Saki will get a rinshan kaihou and win before Kasumi if she tarried  even a turn longer).

Thus, if past behavior proved true it is very likely that Kasumi will take the lower and faster win this time again. Which means at the worst possible scenario Saki and co has to win before Kasumi’s next turn (No pressure right?) ^^

Anyway, its a pity that we can’t see Saki’s hand for this match.  I’ll assume from her behavior though that she won’t be able to win before Kasumi’s turn come next.

Fortunately, an opportunity presented itself. After all, there were many ways to skin a cat. And even though, Saki can’t win in that allotted time doesn’t mean that no one else can.

That’s right. Kyouko! 

Kyouko is something of an expert of 3p mahjong which Kasumi’s ability has made the match into (or something close to it.) But, more than that, Kyouko’s position is important. Kyouko herself noted that she was lucky that she wasn’t positioned  after Eisui.

Additional note: Toyone was the unlucky person with that distinction. As we discussed in the previous post, this caused her tomobiki to be sealed since she can no longer pon or chi anything for Kasumi.

Remember the seating arrangements?

Saki giving up her eight of bamboo to have Kyouko pon it skips Kasumi and Toyone’s turn. Thus, halting the development of their hand. Moreover, this action firmly puts Kyouko in tenpai for a cheap hand which she promptly won. ^^

Incidentally, this gives us further clues on why Toyone’s tomobiki is sealed. After all, even if Kasumi’s discard pool is no longer out of the running, Saki and Kyouko’s are still fair game.

But, with this incident (and other previous Saki games), we know that Saki can sense or at least have a rough idea of what discard a player needs to call. Meaning once Toyone’s tomobilki is understood, Saki won’t be giving her any tiles to call pon on (unless that’s what Saki wants ^^).

This means though that the only discard pool open for Toyone is Kyouko’s. Which probably makes the tomobiki fortune ineffective.

Anyway, back to the game.

As shown in this page, Kyouko won with 2,000/1,000 points. Saki is the dealer so she has to pay 2,000 but compared to the amount that Kasumi will get if she won that’s probably points well spent in her opinion. Besides, Kyouko is currently in the last position which makes her winning infinitely palatable for Saki (who is aiming for 1st place and +/- zero) than Kasumi widening her lead more.

Another insight we could look onto this match was the reaction of Eisui. They were surprised that someone actually won against Kasumi. I think that says a lot.  And to be honest, I’m not surprised. If we look at the discard table we could see that the second row of discard was barely filled in.

If we took that as a representative that meant Kasumi probably wins somewhere in the 7th-9th turn.

Anyway, next round is heating up. ^^

Saki calls a kan on the 1 of bamboo.

(As I look at her opponent’s faces, I could already hear what they are thinking.)

Oh s**t! Rinshan Kaihou! 

 

In defiance to tradition, Saki called a riichi.

Her opponents are of course baffled by this turn of events. Especially when you remember Toyone’s ability.

Senpu (Pursuit Riichi) which as Kyouko painfully demonstrated last hanchan caused the opponent who called the first riichi to draw Toyone’s needed tiles. This in turn means Toyone rons the said opponent.

As Kyouko narrates, everyone is baffled by this turn of events. She then began an analysis of the situation. Thinking of Eisui’s effects.

Kyouko’ s train of thought is this.

Eisui denies the other players one suit. But, where does this unused suit go to? Logically, it should go somewhere the other players cannot draw from – the dead wall or at the end of turn draws.

But, we can see two tiles of the dead wall – the dora indicator which is three of bamboo and three of characters. No circles. Which probably means that Saki can abuse the dead wall as much as she likes. ^^

But wait!

Saki called riichi.

She can’t abuse the dead wall if she will draw Toyone’s needed tiles next turn and get hit! Well, that was how normally goes. Fortunately, Saki prepared for the eventuality.

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As you can see, Saki got Toyone’s needed tile, an 8 of characters. But, she called a kan on it.

(If you’re wondering why doesn’t Toyone chankan Saki. This is because Saki made a closed kan. The only hand that can rob a closed kan is Kokushi which Toyone doesn’t have)

Anyway, if we look at Toyone’s 5 sided wait, we can see that Saki used most of it.

1 of bamboo =  Saki called a kan on this last turn. Meaning this is no longer available.

5 of characters = Wait. Isn’t this the tile Saki discarded when she called riichi? ^^

8 of characters = the tile that Saki drew this turn. She also called a kan on it which means its no longer available.

Two waits to go.

Incidentally…. the tile that she got for the rinshan?

Its the 2 of characters. lol. Something that isn’t a circle which meant Saki managed to confirm Kasumi’s weakspot and its also another one of Toyone’s waits. ^^

The only unaccounted wait now is the 4 of bamboo. And guess what?

The dora indicator is 3 of bamboo which means the 4 of bamboo is the kan dora. From analyzing and watching some of Saki’s games, I’m 80% sure that Saki knows where the kan dora is most of the time. Incidentally, 3 of them are on Toyone’s hands. ^^

lol Looking at the deliberateness of Saki’s discards and how she her choices neatly lined up. I can’t help but feel that she set this up. My pet theory is she called a riichi to activate Toyone’s ability. Since Toyone’s ability makes sure that Saki will draw tiles that Toyone needs to complete her hand. All Saki then needs to do is wait on the same tiles that Toyone will need.

And this of course allowed Saki to make her hand really fast which allowed her to bypass Kasumi’s “one suit” ability which she was having some problems before. Besides that, this move confirmed Kasumi’s weakness. Since Kasumi isn’t stuffing the dead wall with her “one suit”, Saki can use that much as she wants. Which you bet she would start to do next turn. ^^

Next time, the match analysis on one of the most controversial aspect of this game. I’ll probably fold the last two chapters together since I want to finish this before the anime airs.