Most narrow nations

LA Ermor is (unsurprisingly) very narrow. Probably the most narrow in terms of pretender design even: you have to take several death magic points (anything below 4 is pretty suicidal) and an awake pretender, as a sleeping pretender *will* get you killed. fast. A strong dominion is also, while not absolutely necessary, still very important.
Also, for late age your national troops (read autosummons) plain suck. And getting priests with high magic to cast those whole-battlefield undead buffs is quite expensive, better summons are more economical. A bless will also be wasted on Ermor as you'll only get decent amounts of decent blessable troops quite late. (and good priests are still expensive)
Also, they lack several hundred coolness points because they're restricted to lame zombies and skeletons instead of the awesomeness of ghostly roman legions.

Tien Chi MA are very diverse. And you'll have to utilize that, as you get comparatively wek mages that have lots of different paths to make up for it. You also get a nice mix of national troops and summons.
Also unsurprising, since MA Tien Chi is basic Tien Chi from D2. Though a bit better imo.

[KissBlade]

Tien Chi MA is very diverse?! They're practically pidgeon holed into a consort spam strategy backed by imperial xbows!

[Endoperez]

They have access to many paths. They might not be able to use them well, but they have access to many paths. In a game where every player could expect, say, 15 turns before contact with another player, Tien Chi's diverse magic could pay off. It won't pay off in a blitz, perhaps even in most games... but they still have access to many paths.

[KissBlade]

They don't really have that much access to that many more paths than other nations. Only five if I recall, which there are quite a few number of nations can boast in terms of magic versatility of equal if not greater level.

[Gandalf Parker]

I noted that Tien Chi has 3 or 4 pretenders that boost luck? All titans. And they have some decent magics. Possibly a bless strategy. They only have one blessable unit? But many blessable leaders and many of them mages.

If I remember Jade Emperor I got up to air 4, water 4, astral 9. That gives air shield 20%, Defense Skill +2, Magic Resistance +3, and Twist of Fate. Pretty good for a battle field full of mages. I only got 5 dominion but for purchasing mostly blessable leaders that isnt too much of a problem. Plus the luck bonuses, the research boost, the high astral. Someone should be able to make that a decent strategy shouldnt they?

[KissBlade]

Well the problem is, the mages once on battle field can't do anything! Also in ME, astral nations are very rampant making your capital only mages all too easily counterable. Sure they have a decent strategy, xbows + consorts. XD

[B0rsuk]

EE Agartha seems narrow, too. It's about clumsy giants, no ranged weapons, no cavalry. Specialised mages (lots of earth; site searching is annoyingly time consuming without rainbow pretender; oracles are far from being cost-effective site searchers)