GotFrag.com: If you've ever watched a tournament stream, you've most likely heard one of the casters mention the words "tournament comp" at one point or another. A tournament comp is a composition of classes that excel in games played in a LAN environment. There are a number of different factors that determine whether a composition is suitable for tournament play, or is better left for live realms. Some of these factors include:
The Element of Surprise
On live realms, teams have the disadvantage (or in some cases, the advantage) of having absolutely no idea who they are queuing up against. At a tournament, however, players almost always know exactly who they are up against and - barring any big last-minute comp changes - know exactly what they are going to do against each team they play.
A good tournament comp is one that doesn't rely on the element of surprise, a comp that always excels in the arena no matter the circumstances. So you may want to re-think that Boomkin/Elemental Shaman/Shadowpriest comp you were thinking of qualifying with on the next phase of the tournament realm.
Gear Reliance
While this isn't currently an issue as tournaments are now being played with 264 item level gear, there was a point at which tournaments were played in outdated gear. This meant that classes that were heavily stat-reliant didn't perform as well as classes that were not.
This is why we saw barely any elemental shamans in competition before MLG Columbus 2010 (the first tournament to be played with 264 item level gear). Elemental Shamans are one of the most gear-reliant classes in the game, and they have now had a couple of buffs, and tournaments are now flooded with them.
Mistakes
As much as they may hate to admit it, in most cases professional World of Warcraft players will see their skill level drop considerably in a LAN environment. You're using unfamiliar equipment in an unfamiliar place with a crowd of people watching you; it's perfectly understandable that players may make an extra mistake or two here and there.
This is why a good tournament comp does not have to rely on the players playing said comp not making any mistakes at all. This is one of the reasons Complexity.Black has seen so much success with their beast cleave composition; if someone makes a mistake, their chances of winning don't drop to zero. Good tournament comps are those that don't have to be mistake-free.
Counter-Comping
Some people may claim that there is no such thing as a "counter comp," and others may claim that counter-comping is the reason some teams do as well as they do. Whatever your opinion may be, there have been a number of circumstances in the past where teams were able to exploit their opponents' weaknesses and ride them like a wave to victory.
One such example is MLG Columbus 2009. The tournament was filled to the brim with teams running the Rogue/Mage/Priest lineup. Then along came Flexx, Twixz, and Kintt with their beast cleave, a strong counter to the RMP lineup. They went on to win Columbus - as well as a number of subsequent MLG tournaments - with their favored beast cleave lineup. A good tournament comp is one that exploits the weaknesses of its opposing comps during tournament play.
In order to have any success at all at tournaments, one must learn the advantages and disadvantages their composition has during tournament play. Having a strong tournament comp is arguably one of the most important factors leading to success in tournaments. This is why comps like RMP, WLD (R.I.P), and RLS have seen so much success in the past.
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