Dota 2: TI 9 – Players & Countries
| Tags: Dota 2
| Author Zlosterr
ESTNN's Veselin Ignatov takes fans through the players from each country attending TI 9.
Yesterday, we covered all of the teams attending TI 9, so now it is time to take a look at the players. The easiest way to do this is by separating them by country, starting with the region that has the most players attending and ending with the least. Let's start off with China!
China
Similar to pretty much any large Dota event, China has the most players attending TI 9. In fact, they have nearly three times more players compared to the second spot on our list.
One of the main reasons for that is the Chinese Dota scene is incredibly strong. Even though it was weak and slow to grow in the beginning, as the season progressed, the Chinese teams began to steadily dominate in most series' against their western counterparts.
Even though there will be 18 Chinese players, that number is still low compared to TI 8. During last years’ tournament, there were a total of 27 Chinese players in attendance.
Russia
The second spot on our list is occupied by the Russians. Apart from being the nation which loves Dota 2 the most, the Russian players have also been the target of some controversy recently. To be exact, some players in the Dota 2 scene levied racist tirades against them. Hopefully, this will not happen in the future because Dota 2 has no place for such behavior.
Similar to the Chinese, the number of Russian players is lower when compared to last year. This was expected, considering the fact that only two teams from this region made it to TI.
United States
Even though two NA teams will be at TI 9, only four players from all the teams are actually American.
There are many reasons for this small number. In fact, there were even some statements made that many teams choose to sort of “place” themselves in the NA region for the sole purpose of having an easier time in the qualifiers. If you think about this for a second, it definitely makes some sense. After all, let’s be honest, NA Dota has definitely had some issues lately.
There hasn't been much of a change in the number of American players year over year. At TI 8, there were only six Americans in the tournament.
Philippines
After the recent “awakening” from the SEA region, the Philippines have a total of nine players at TI. Not only is this number higher compared to last year, but this time, the players are a mixture of the old guard and new, rising talent.
Sweden
Sweeden, alongside Peru, is one of the nations with the most new players. Fans and analysts expected this, especially after Alliance made it to TI 9.
Apart from the countries we mentioned above, there are many others which we have not included here. If you want to check the full list, click HERE and just scroll down below a bit.
Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest esports news.
Image VIA: Valve
Zlosterr has been a fan of esports for many years and mainly focuses on Dota 2. He has more than five years of experience writing Dota 2 content for numerous platforms. Besides being a passionate fan of the game, he's also played for various amateur teams.