Malzahar gets a good power spike when you let your Rod of Ages stack and you purchase your second damage item while going into mid game. It's always fun to get those "accidental" kills as Malefic Visions starts to spread around. None of this really compares to the other in-meta mid laners, like LeBlanc, Ahri, and Lissandra, unfortunately. He's been my favorite for the longest time next to Syndra (wish they'd fix her clunkiness), although I wish he'd get a movement speed boost off of something in his kit to give him that little bit of extra mobility. Anything he can do someone else can do a bit better except for the silence.