No This is not a joke he is a very strong mid you just need to get an ap top or jungle (or both)

AD Marks and Quints because his q scales very well and since the mid lane is nearly always alone during laning phase it scales even better. The flat Armor seals are useful because the mid lane still do autoattack early game. Flat magic Resist Glyphs because they will be doing a lot of early game magic damage.

These runes seem obvious you are an assassin so you should go down the damage tree especially for the last point so your q does more damage. Going down the defensive tree since you need the health and magic resist. you can go down the utility tree for buff duration since your jungler should give you blue buff, it is useful on him but not needed (The CDR is very useful for your jump since it has high cooldown).

Boots and 3 because you will need to be able to dodge and keep up with the enemy mid, the health pots are also very useful. Brutalizer is very usefull since you need the Q and E up as quickly as possible and the armor pen is very good. Vamp scepter can be bought before if your having troubles in lane, the phage can be bough before the boots for the health. sheen and tri force fore more burst and same with BT. Last whisper is usefull but not always needed the GA helps you live longer. the Rest is obvious.

Flash is needed for escaping or initiating when they are out of distance of your jump. Ignite is used for more burst but you can use exhaust to keep up with the enemy mid or reduce their burst. your q is own low CD and your autoattacks do quite a bit of damage so exhaust can be a great idea.

at level 1 you should try to get top or bot to leash since you will take a hit or two. you should just sit back in lane and wait until level 2 for your q so you can burst. at level two jump on their mid and burst him but don't use ignite unless he is going to defiantly die because most of the time people flash away from this (he does that much damage). then keep jumping on the whenever they get in range (while jump is on CD farm if you can risk taking hits though). if your mid plays to passively wait till six and get your e evolved, if they are still to far away either keep denying him minions or start roaming. Try not to push early game because getting in tower range may change a fight especially if they have cc.

same as early game just start to be more aggressive or roam more other than that play the same.

Wait for the team fight to start don't initiate yourself unless its on to a lone squishy enemy and you know where the rest of the enemy team is. in team fights try to come in after it starts and jump on the AP or ad carry (most likely ad carry since AP would be behind because of you). when they start to focus you either jump out if you didn't use it to jump in or ulti (if you get a kill or assist you can use your jump again). Then after you take out one go onto the next if you have the health.

At level 6 you should either get your q or your e evolved. the e is a massive gap closer so if your mid is playing safely it is very useful, it also gives you great escape since it now resets on kills or assists. your q is useful if you need more damage and it is a very good execute. at level 11 get whichever you didn't get. at level 16 i like getting the ulti evolved because people like to burst you down during team fights and this gives you a way to avoid the burst and take reduced damage. The W evolved is useful but not as much because the jump is enough of a gap closer so the slow isn't needed.