Are dual mids the new meta?

I've been seeing this a LOT lately, and it's not just limited to Tiny + Io combos. This seems to be more of a desirable choice than previous patches, can someone explain why?

I get the TinyWisp lanes and to an extent the Mirana + Shadow Demon ones, but I've seen some with Lich as the support with no one that has extreme strategy.

In terms of pubs, I would think it most likely won't happen until professionals make it a commonplace practice amongst higher-tier MMR players, which then would theoretically trickle down to low-tier pubs.

In terms of professional play, I would think that unless it can completely dominate a lane without a severe risk of failure it won't become common.
Typically, professional players prefer to play a consistent, similar playstyle or lane set-up that is show to win the game, because there is little risk in playing a winning lane setup- less risk to gain reward by winning the game. (Not to say that there aren't teams that don't like to shake things up and play weird compositions and set-ups, but I'm speaking generally)

Mostly it is ran as a reaction. For example, o **** that TA is going to crush our mirana, lets help him.
And often when a team wants to run a certain hero for their strategy, tht specific hero cant win the lane against the opposing invoker for example, so they also pick a lich, SD, or bane to help him.

And some teams like EG want to put their true 1 role in the mid, and those also need a lot of help.

It's a question of risk/reward; can we strangle the opposing mid hard enough to make up for the lost/shared experience of running two heroes? And can our other lanes survive ok with 1 less support?

Theoretically there is no reason that mid lane HAS to be solo, it's one of those historical things - no doubt backed up by solid reasoning, but not an immutable law of the game. I remember pro teams running Anti-Mage/ Lich mid lanes a few years back.

I'd go with Timm's suggestion that it's about laning an uncompetitive mid - better to share the lane than get owned. With trilanes often becoming so ingrained, pairs of supports ganking mid have become one of the few action areas early game - having dual mids changes this dynamic somewhat.

Hopefully we'll see lots of unexpected and unusual lane combos in future :)

^

Makes for fun games to watch and I'm sure the players are having a blast