why dont ADCs and support go mid and mages go bot lane?

Mages typically have enough utility or mobility to handle a solo lane by themselves, however when the junglers turn it into a 2v1 situation they are often too squishy to survive a retreat back to their tower. This is why they take mid lane, which has the shortest distance between towers.

ADCs going mid would be a very viable thing if everything revolved around the ADC surviving until late game, however bot lane would just turn into a second top lane, rather than anything similar to what mid is now. Perhaps solo ADC mid could become a thing again, with a mage/support bot, however I don't see how the meta could naturally shift in that direction.

1. the mage wants to roam, the adc wants to afk farm. you can roam better from the mid lane.

2. if the mage has to leave bot lane there is no one to defend tower, and it is a longer walk back.

3. mages bot lane can have a hard time getting CS in the 2v1, and they need items.

Its not all bad, the increased vision and map control of getting mid outer early can be good, but its quite the tradeoff.

It comes down to roaming. The ADC is supposed to farm early game. The mid is many times someone that has fairly good ganking or roaming, so by having them in the middle lane, they have quick access to both other lanes. Also, many times, mages are the slower ones on the team, so the shorter lane makes sense.

Mages and assassins scale better with levels than adc's do. Adc's are intended, usually with some exceptions, to farm early and scale late. Mages and assassins tend to have more burst in their spells, so it's best to put them in the shortest lane so they can hit appropriate power spikes earlier.

If mages went bot and adc/supports went mid, the game would be a tad slower.

However, past the laning phase, it's sometimes a wise idea to do a lane swap once the bot lane tower goes down. The adc is in a "safer" lane for their jungler to keep an eye on, and the mage should have enough waveclear to push back against an autoattack adc or an assassin should be enough of a threat to keep the enemy adc from pushing too hard without jungler assistance.

mainly because not all adc's can shove mid lane, if your team decides to push. That means things like lucian, caitlyn, corki, kog would probs always be mid. But that would be fun none the less, if adc's went mid and mids went bot with a support. That means the adc would have an increased level advantage early-mid game. Since bot has to share exp. But if mid's went bot with a support i'm sure it would be a bloodbath. Imagine annie taric lanes.. Thresh Ahri, Sona Vlad? Would be a hot mess

A few LCS teams have experimented with a pressure heavy duo mid comp that usually involves an ADC like Cait. The goal is to push mid tower down by 10min and rotate and roam.

I have been saying for a long time that I have no idea why the meta isnt: top jungle adc support/mage

A mobile adc like twitch or MF goes quite nicely in this set up. Gives the adc the chance to farm in a short lane and the mage / support has enough cc and burst to actually accomplish things without the jungler.

Mid Laners are very strong because they can roam top or bottom and have enough dmg+cc to make an impact (Ahri charm, Ziggs W, Leblanc burst, Anivia stun/wall, etc etc etc). If an ADC roams they can't do anything. If the adc + support roams then it might work but I can't see Solo Q being coordinated enough to do this.

Not trying to be a prune about low elo when I say this but: low elo mid laners are trash because they don't roam enough.

In short - Mid laners can offer better early game control.

I've thought of this myself, but from a Support perspective. Mid has two lanes to ward, but Bot who has the most wards only wards one? It'd make more sense.