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The Players' Pie The Players' Pie

The most prominent

China

Ukraine

EG is the top US hope this year EG is the top US hope this year

USA

South Korea

Russia

World map with countries represented. World map with countries represented.

Notable Absentees

Western Europe

Kuroky is one of two German

players present this year Kuroky is one of two Germanplayers present this year

Philippines

South America

TI number of players by country

China managed to sent a whopping 27 players (two more than TI 2014). This gives them more than twice as many players as the second highest country. Thus far LGD-Gaming and Newbee are the only two fully Chinese team present, with CDEC Gaming hoping to make it out of phase one.China has plenty more to root for as they have three more teams, including some of the favourites, with four Chinese players each in the form of Invictus Gaming and EHOME . As a whole with this many players and top teams, victory hopes have to be high in China.Ukraine has the second largest number of players with 12. The Eastern Europeans thus far have three partial Ukrainian teams in the main event; Virtus.Pro* and Natus Vincere . Meanwhile they're hoping to add Vega Squadron from phase one.Despite having the second highest number of players, it's unclear what expectations are. Empire, while having looked strong this season ended second best in their last three events, VP went home early at ESL One Frankfurt and Na'vi has underperformed most of the season. That being said, the Ukrainian players present are some of the most experienced and could take it all if they step up their game.The stars and stripes are next on the list with nine players attending. Their greastest hope is likely Evil Geniuses with three US players. The hodgepodge that is compLexity Gaming also has two Americans. Team Archon* , formerly NAR, is the Eagle's last hope, but first will have to make it out of phase one.With one of the strongest teams this season, EG, on their side US fans can be optimistic coming into TI. However, it is unclear what the others can do, and further success, though not impossible, might come as a surprise to some US fans.Things looked rough for South Korea who did not get a single player invited. They now, however, have something to be hopeful about as MVP HOT6 made it through the qualifiers with four Koreans and MVP Phoenix* is laying in wait in phase one with another three players, bringing the total up to seven.While a tournament win is an unrealistic expectation, there is a clear year over year improvement for the Koreans and one of their teams could certainly make a decent run at TI.Russian fans dreams of victory are entirely tied up with Ukrainian fans, as each Empire, VP and Vega feature two Russians with the seventh,Akbar ' SoNNeikO ' Butaev, enlisted with Na'vi. With this patch favouring the early aggresssion of CIS dota, it could still turn from a good into a great year for Russian fans, despite not having the biggest tournament wins in dota coming in.Western Europeans are likely finding themselves light on cheering material as no players from France or the Netherlands managed to qualify, unlike some previous TIs. Additionally, with The Alliance and Ninjas in Pyjamas* falling in the qualifiers, Swedish presence is at an all time low. Furthermore, Germany's presence is down to two;Kuro S. ' KuroKy ' Takhasomi andAdrian ' Fata ' Trinks - from six players last year.It's been a long time since Filippino fans had a full five-man squad at the first TI. With Rave* posting some decent results this year it looked like their fans might finally have something to root for again. There was even talk of a direct invite, but when all was said and done, they were forced to go through a qualifier that proved too difficult.Dota popularity has been rising in South America. Fans were no doubt hoping that Not Today would make it out of the Americas qualifier, having made it to The Summit twice. Chances weren't too bad, as many considered the Americas qualifier the weakest, but unfortunately for Peruvian and South American fans in general they couldn't make it out of the group.What about you? Who are you rooting for? Did your country get represented or did you just miss out?[blockquote]ChinaUkraineUSASouth KoreaRussiaMalaysiaCanadaSingaporeDenmarkSwedenGermanyPakistanRomaniaBelarusMacauMexicoIsraelFinlandAustraliaEstonia[/blockquote]Is your nation represented at this year's TI?