Unihedron

Unihedro on Tenhou. Have an alt for playing during commute but I won't list it here.

Unihedron#8610 on Discord. You can find me in the Mahjong Discord chat with a current avatar of Matsumi Yuu from Achiga girls'.

When I was younger I was a weak, anti-social person tending to wear more even when it's supposedly hot outside and was unsportive (but still welcome to the idea of heading out if there's a need, so not a full shut-in...), which is why I strongly identified with Yuu when I watched Saki -Achiga-. I learned riichi mahjong from a chinese mahjong background and quickly adapted to the ideologies, but eventually I picked up the Saki series and starting copying Yuu's playstyle following her feat.

Play style

I am an average (or below average) 1-dan player, mostly relying on my intuition. My play resembles around the sense of weak and strong tiles - I get a sense of the strong tiles and will discard them early if I don't think I can build blocks out of them throughout the game so I don't deal into my opponents later on. I keep weak tiles and allow them to build triplets when my opponents do not have a hold on them. My affinity of the tiles is especially stronger with warm tiles - If I am working towards tenpai with a need for them, I can usually get them if they are still in the wall. If they don't come to me after a while, I drop the waiting tiles to change for another set.

Of course, there are opponents that surpass my expectations - If I am against opponents who are calling a lot, my intuition can become wrong temporarily. Fortunately, if I can identify my opponents with that play style or that I would prefer to open my hand, I can change my predictions accordingly to draw in the tiles I need. This works especially if they are warm tiles. Just in case you don't know, warm tiles refer to tiles with red, such as the manzu, souzu and pinzu with red in it, red dora, or chun.

If I discard doras, then usually I will stop getting them after a while. Fortunately, they are well forgiving, and if I discard some warm tiles, they will start coming back. If a hand passes without me winning while there are still doras in my hand, I can usually draw them back in the next few games when I am in the condition to win. This helps me identify the games where I am in good condition to win, in that case I rush, use my intuition to decide how to call, and when I get into tenpai, I usually draw the winning tile (if it is warm) or an opponent in riichi draws my winning tile (if it is warm). It doesn't work when the tile I need isn't in the wall.

Because of this, sometimes I do not hesitate to call insta-riichi on some seemingly bad waits that I feel I can complete. (You probably get this by now, but it works more often especially if the tile I need is warm.) I also tend to call chasing riichis even if the wait is bad or is a simple hell wait, as my power is multiplied when there are other players in riichi. Pursuit riichis aren't really my specialty, but it works for me sometimes. Needless to say, if my opponents are also waiting on my winning tiles, then it would backfire.

Unlike Yuu, my ability to draw in warm tiles only starts when there are enough open tiles (called / discarded), but is hindered when my draw order is changed multiple times. It resumes when there are enough new open tiles (called / discarded). My intuition of sensing the weak and strong tiles is not as strong and so I am not as good at tricky plays yet, but it works reliably enough.

Because I do not pursuit efficient play as often, as I do not feel a need for it (unless my opponent calls a lot), I do not often get pinfu and it's not unnatural that I switch between multiple furitens, even declaring riichi on some.

As I am not a well-practiced player, I am not good at scoring. Therefore, I do not often drop small wins to raise for bigger ones.

Play background

I live in Hong Kong and visit a board games club where I find riichi mahjong players. Most other players do not like my often inefficient play style (especially that it wins) and I do not blame them. Rest assured, I don't cheat.

My favourite tile: Chun.

My favourite yaku: Honiitsu (Manzu).

My second favourite yaku: Chiinitsu (Manzu / Any other suit waiting on a warm tile).

My third favourite yaku: Ittsu (Manzu).

My favourite way of revealing the ura-dora: Taking both tiles without unstacking them, bring them in the empty space in front of my hand, drop the ura-dora indicator sideways while turning it sideways with the original dora indicator I still have in hand. Like this: