In the current meta of professional League of Legends, there is a certain "mold" where you create your team composition. You have a jungler who can survive with mediocre farm and help other lanes; a duo lane comprising of a support and a marksman, balancing between pushing and farming in the early game; and solo lanes, which bring something between utility and raw power with the minions all on their own.
Solo lanes, commonly dubbed as "Mid" and "Top" due to their standard placement, are most of the time suited for fighters, assassins, and mages. Those types of champions benefit more from easily accessible experience and gold, allowing them to make strong plays around the map. Marksmen, on the other hand, are not commonly played in this position. This is due to the fact that they are fairly squishy early game, which is when a lot of dueling happens, and even with their range advantage, they are easily counterable with ganks, burst damage, or just plain tankiness.
Recently, however, there is an ongoing trend wherein marksmen, particularly Ezreal, are being used in the mid lane. It started in Korea a few weeks back, and just last week it became a much-used team comp in the LCS. With a couple of variations from some of the teams, this surge of the "double marksmen" lineup experienced varying degrees of success, with a 2-3 score across both the NA and EU regions. It is interesting therefore, to take a closer peek into the games involving this strategy, and try to see what's so special about it that's worth trying out.
So prepare for trouble, and make it double! (Might as well make this reference now and get it over with.)
PICKS AND BANS
As always, the drafting phase is important in the success of one's team comp. The trick of the Double Trouble strat is that you have to convince your opponent that you won't pull it off. This means that up until the last moment, teams should draft as if they would go for their usual picks. Evil Geniuses pulled this off perfectly, with the added variable of their new jungler, Shacker. What seemed to be a standard EG lineup, with the exception of Elise, turned into something that surprised Fnatic when both Twitch and Caitlyn suddenly got picked out of nowhere.
On the North America side, we have Counter Logic Gaming and Vulcun Techbargains using the Double Trouble strat. They pulled it out on both their games, and this is where we get a chance to see teams adapt to the team comp when they had a first look at it. Their first games were both on blue side, meaning the opposing team has the last pick, which can be used to respond to the presence of two marksmen.
For their second games, they are both on purple side, and this to me is where the Double Trouble strat is best to pull off. Usually, blue side is preferred by teams when drafting because of the first pick advantage. However, having the final say could work in the team's favor if they are opting for this team comp. Picking a marksman, particularly Ezreal for VUL, midway makes for a great guessing game as the opponents had no choice but to reveal their lineup first. This gave CLG and VUL enough time to consider whether or not this new strat is worth trying, and the Vayne and Kog'Maw picks respectively from them confirmed that it was.
The downside to this, specifically on using the same strategy on the same week, is that it can be scouted by other teams, rendering the purple side advantage useless. But since L1nk, nientonsoh, and mandatorycloud were very confident in their mechanics (especially nien, being an AD Carry prior to his top lane position), they pressed on with their lineup, even with the surprise factor mostly gone.
EXECUTION
After everything that's said about the mind games involved in drafting, what's more important is of course, how the Double Trouble team comp was played. As I don't want to turn this into a novel, a more general view of the games was done, comparing and contrasting the results made by the various Double Trouble team comps seen.
There was only one game in Europe where Double Trouble was unleashed, yet it was probably the best one executed. In a method that was very not EG-esque, they quickly took down turrets from all lanes to gain immediate map and objective control. With Froggen and Yellowpete getting immensely fed, there was nothing Fnatic could do as EG took the their base down piece by piece.
The North Americans, on the other hand, weren't so lucky. For Counter Logic Gaming, their losses to Velocity and Dignitas were due to their poor positioning, getting frommaplestreet and scarra very fed, destroying them. As for Vulcun, while their first attempt was a success, Velocity once again stopped the strategy off its tracks, as VUL wasn't able to get enough of a lead to utilize their team comp.
DOUBLE TROUBLE: HOW AND WHY
The Double Trouble team comp has one main goal in order for it to be successful: push early, and hard. This lineup exploits the range of the marksmen in taking down turrets. By being able to siege from a relatively safe distance, they want to gain as much map control as possible right off the bat. For the solo marksman in particular, his job is to force the opponent out of the lane via strong early game dueling, which is why Ezreal is a common choice with his mobility and burst potential.
As for the other solo laner and the jungler, at least one of them needs to become a strong peeler. Good gap closers and heavy crowd control are much preferred, which is why we saw the likes of Zac, Malphite, Elise, and Twisted Fate among others. If the teams opts for only one peeler, then the other one must take up a very supportive role for the team. Jungle Nunu and top lane Yorick were great examples of this, as they provide great help for their AD Carry with Blood Boil and Omen of Death respectively.
For the support, someone with lots of sustainable crowd control is well suited for this team comp. However, as you may have noticed, North American teams who used Double Trouble tend to go for Sona, and while her strong poke and game-defining Crescendos are swell, for long teamfights (which are highly likely with this kind of lineup), she doesn't have the right tools to protect her carries.
Finally, the most important ingredients of all: the marksmen themselves. As said earlier, Ezreal is a great champion to put in the solo lane. He is also the original pick when this team comp debuted in Korea. That is because aside from his mobility and burst potential, the popular Blue Build allowed the Prodigal Explorer to become a kiting machine, allowing him and his fellow AD Carry to rain down bullets and lasers upon their foes. Another unique advantage he has is his Essence Flux skill, which increases the attack speed of any ally that's hit with it. This gives the team faster sieges and combined with Nunu, the two marksmen could melt any objective in seconds.
There were variations, of course, as shown by EG's Froggen and CLG's Nien, but they serve the same end purpose: to create a Catch-22 (lose-lose situation) come late game. As for the AD Carry in the duo lane, almost anyone would do, though fast pushers such as Caitlyn would be preferred.
Now, with all that said, the question becomes, "Is this Double Trouble team comp legitimate? Or is this more a Flavor of the Month thing?" In my opinion, it is a good team comp, and is simply an extreme take of an objective-based LoL playstyle. Sacrificing utility and burst for safe, sustainable damage seemed reasonable, albeit a bit risky.
What I really like, however, is that this is a good step towards shattering the notion of what can be played competitively in each lane. While TSM attempted to do this a couple of weeks back with their triple-bruiser, Zilean-Annie team comp, it relied too much on getting the first teamfight right. Double Trouble is a little less radical than that, and it doesn't force the player to change their individual playstyle too much, merely adjust.
STRENGTHS AND WEAKNESSES
I've already said the advantage Double Trouble gets in terms of fast pushing and additional mind games during drafts. What I'd like to discuss here therefore, is the team comp's late game potential, and it's reward for crisp coordination. Evil Geniuses symbolize these two concepts perfectly, going way back to their CLG.EU days. Even with the substitute jungler, their crowd control management was impeccable, creating an wall for Twitch and Caitlyn to simple fire away. To emphasize the team comp's late game potential, remember that AD Carries scale really well in high-farm, drawn-out games. Having two of them doubles the powerhouse potential at your disposal.
Of course, getting there isn't always easy. You see, there is one type of champion that totally ruins this team comp's day: Assassins. Marksmen in general hate them like they hate Randuin's Omen on tanks. Their single-target burst and strong gap closing skills completely negate the range advantage these AD Carries had. Once they picked someone like Kassadin or Zed, the pressure's on for the other members to do all they can to prevent these assassins from melting the carries.
Another obstacle for Double Trouble is when the fast tower push fails. If the enemy manages to deflect the assault, whether with good rotations or a more solid game plan, the team is at a immediate disadvantage. This deficit comes from the fact that a more "standard" lineup could scale better around the mid game, a weak point for this sort of team, leading to lost objectives which is necessary for this team comp's success.
RECOMMENDATIONS AND FINAL WORDS
With a lot of variations for Double Trouble, what I will do is give you fellow summoners a good lineup to use if you want to try this out. Remember, this team comp relies so much on teamwork, so solo/duo queue is not the best place to pull this off.
Recommended lineup (standard laning):
TOP Zac
JUNGLE Nunu
MID Ezreal
AD CARRY Caitlyn
SUPPORT Thresh
If you want something more different, here are the possible alternatives you could test out. Notice that some champions used by the pros aren't listed here, as I believe that aren't suitable for the team comp. The top lane Vayne also isn't listed, as not overwhelm those who want to adapt this playstyle.
TOP Shen, Malphite, Elise, Yorick
JUNGLE Elise, Zac, Nasus, Jarvan IV
MID Caitlyn, Twitch, Corki, Tristana
AD CARRY Anyone
SUPPORT Janna, Lulu, Nami, Zyra
Thank you for anyone who managed to read through all that, and I hope you guys got a little something out of it. Always remember to have fun playing Double Trouble, as League of Legends is enjoyed first and foremost. If you have any positive or negative response, feel free to write them on the comments section below.
Or you can tweet me @moveslikejuaber if you want to get really personal ;)
