Hello all, and welcome to my first installment of Team Strategy Crafting. These are neither in-depth play guides nor are they guides to help you play a specific champion. Instead, these guides will serve as the frame in which people can discuss and comment on different 5-man team builds. In each episode of Team Strategy Crafting I will have 2 5-man teams prepared (complete with masteries, builds, runes, etc) and will give a general guide on how the team is supposed to play/operate throughout the various stages of a normal game. These teams, however, are not set dead into stone and many variations on individual champion selection may occur. Because of this, I will try to list out any viable champions that could be inserted into the build but will not supply any extensive details on how you should insert them. That being said, enjoy the first episode in my Team Strategy Crafting guides.

~TehMastah (Summoner Name: Veral42, NA Server)

*All strategies listed in these guides assume that you have some for of teamspeak, vent, etc. that will allow you to talk directly to your team for fast, on-the-fly decisions (rather than typing or vague pings)*

Team Roles:
Taric - Bot Support
Miss Fortune - Bot (AD Carry)
Twisted Fate - Mid (AP)
Volibear - Jungle
Jax - Solo Top

General Team Analysis
A slightly less conventional team than is seen in competitive play, this team revolves around skillful engagement. Above all else, however, this team also revolves around Taric's ultimate. Each player on this team scales on both AD and AP, making Taric the ideal support due to his ultimate having a double scale effect for his entire team. Miss Fortune should go in bot lane with Taric, due to her great scaling with his ultimate early game as well as her ability to neuter any healing support your opponents may have and allowing for early lane control. Volibear's jungle route, while a bit slower than some other popular junglers, leaves him in a great position to gank any lane. Volibear should play aggressively early game, ganking and completing his core items as fast as possible to support more aggressive pushing and zoning in lanes. Jax... can go afk or something till mid game or dragons... then go afk again till he's ready to jump into team fights (literally).

Early Game (Lane Phase)
This is your time to farm, farm, farm. Keep your minion waves centered in your lanes so you can escape easily from ganks and don't forget to properly cover yourselves with wards. This stage will usually last for 10-15 min, or until a team starts pushing down towers. During this stage, Volibear should try to keep as much map presence as possible in any lanes that are struggling, while continuing his jungle farm. Try to not fall to far behind in level early, or you'll find yourselves woefully out-matched with a weak tank as you transition into the midgame. Keep an eye out for dragon and effectively communicate to Jax if you need his help... he has teleport for a reason, you know. This can go great with Twisted Fate's "Destiny" ability, allowing you a "guaranteed-to-spot CV" as you set up for fights (as well as allowing TF to jump into/out of fights quickly. Whenever possible, TF should support top lane ganks by jumping into brush with his ult and leading in with a stun after Volibear's toss. Doing this will help you quickly shut down your opponents solo top, something that can prove to be a game winning event (especially if their top is someone who requires a LOT of afk farm, like Tryn).

Mid Game
The game plan hasn't changed a whole lot from the lane phase. Gank, push, farm. The only difference here is that you should put an emphasis on downing towers and pushing your lanes. Keep wards towards dragon and baron, while trying to ward jungle entrances/exits and you opponent's red/blue buffs. Keeping wards up at all times is often the difference between life and death in this phase, especially if you find yourself separated from either Volibear or Taric. I would suggest making bottom tower your top priority, since that will allow for Taric to have a bit more freedom whenever he roams for wards or gank support with his stun. By the end of this phase you should have 3-5 towers down and either Taric or Volibear should invest in an Oracle's Elixir to clear out enemy wards and leave them running blind.

Late (End) Game
By this time, you should be leaving dragon unless you have nothing better to do and want the gold. Make it a priority to pink-ward baron and take it the first chance you get. After baron you should try to get at least 1 inhibitor down (preff bot/mid) and continue to safely push and move as a team. At this point, the buddy system that rules the mid game will most likely no longer be viable and you should ALWAYS move as a 5 man team when you push. If someone isn't there (unless it's TF or Jax, since they have ways to jump into a fight from a large distance at will) go farm and move cautiously. Continue pushing and don't be afraid to wait for a second baron to come up before you finally finish the game up and take out their nexus.

Team Roles:
Sona - Bot Support
Kennen - Bot (AD Carry)
Veigar - Mid (AP)
Pantheon - Jungle
Vladimir- Solo Top

General Team Analysis
Anyone familiar with the current state of the meta knows what an AoE comp is, and this is a slight variation on the popular theory. Kennen and Sona bot are a solid combination, able to sustain and farm to unimaginable levels regardless of almost anything that gets thrown at them. As the game progresses into later phases, you bot lane champions can play a pivotal role in teamfights (both having an AoE that stuns). Veigar in mid supplies even further team fight control, having absolutely balls-to-the-walls levels of burst and a stun that can help control the fights mobility. As with any AoE comp, Vladimir is almost a must for top lane, able to sustain through the most brutal of punishment as well as his ultimate's AoE damage booster. Pantheon is the most unconventional member of this AoE comp, and fills the role of jungle. The reason I feature Pantheon as their jungler is because of his "Heartseeker Strike" and "Grand Skyfall" abilities: the former boosting damage to champions and the latter allowing for AoE/stun/PANIC!/control/mobility. Like TF and Jax in the previous team (In a radiant blaze of glory...) Pantheon is able (and should) wander the map helping to keep ward coverage (especially on major enemy objectives such as red/blue) and split-push lanes. Since "Grand Skyfall" has such a large range, even if he's almost across the map he can reach a teamfight and have a significant impact in a matter of seconds.

Early Game (Lane Phase)
Farm. Especially if you're a champion that needs a 3-4 item core by the midgame. Since this team comp lacks substantial bulk (until Pantheon gets his Warmog's and farms it) the early game should be played safe. Try not to push your lane to hard unless you know that your laning opponent went back and their jungler isn't near you. If you find yourself in this situation, push your lane to their tower to force them to lose exp and to reset the lane's position for when they've returned. Ward dragon and gank paths, but since this team has such a high amount of control during a fight (stuns/slows/etc) you should be fairly safe. After about 12-15 min, Pantheon and Veigar should force mid out of lane and then help to push down bot tower to open into the midgame.

Mid Game
By this point you team should have their core items up. Keep pink-warding dragon to maintain control and start warding baron. Play more aggressively now than you did in the early game since by this point you should be able to completely dictate the pace and direction of teamfights with your abundance of stuns and AoE. Make sure your team is always keeping map awareness and try to take your opponent's blue/red whenever they're up. Due to the tight constraints of space in the jungle, your team should never lose a fight there since it will be VASTLY easier to zone your opponents out and trap their members 1 by 1. Continue pushing lanes and transition into the endgame as soon as your team has exposed at least 1 inhibitor turret. Pantheon should spend the majority of this phase split-pushing lanes and continuing to farm up while the rest of your team sticks together and keeps the enemy team occupied. Veigar's "room stun" and Sona's plethora of team buffs should be enough to keep your team safe from quick initiations as long as you stay on your toes. Remember, always wait for one stun to begin dying before unleashing your next since stacking stuns does you no good in the long run and it's in your best interest to always have at least one of your AoE stuns up for a quick escape.

Late (End) Game
By this point, you shouldn't have any trouble as long as you've played smart and no one has been feeding (><). Have at least 2-3 wards ready for when you enter this phase of the game, and immediately ward the brushes leading to baron and take him down. Once baron has fallen, pushing down the remainder of the enemy base shouldn't take you very long at all. Pantheon may continue to split-push if he needs a bit more gold, but it's recommended that he stay in close proximity to his team to allow for a fast "Aegis" or "Skyfall" initiation (the latter should be performed in conjunction with Veigar's "room stun".

A/N: Many people may notice that Vladimir has no boots and 6 items in the display. Quicksilver Sash can be switched into the build, depending on your needs, to great effect. DO NOT, however, sell your boots!

League of Legends is unique in that the meta of today may not be the meta of tomorrow. To accordingly make note of this fluid style of change I will be keeping both an update log as well as re-posting any noteworthy comments in this section:

Change Log
7/24/2012 - Removed the alternative champions section, since I felt it detracted from the point of a teamguide

Notes
none at the moment