Welcome to the guide that sends most of the enemies into the void after facing you.
First of all lets get to know our champ, here are some facts about Malzahar:

1. HE CAN FLY (nvm... i just love his flying)
2. Malzahar is one of the best 1v1 AP killer, if you play him well nobody can kill you, this is a very powerful champion that a lot of people want to play, and quite a lot play him very badly!

anyways here's a personal advice from me:
If you want to be good with him PLAY THE GAME WITH THE SOUND TURNED ON, I made the mistake to listen to music at the beginning, but after I began to play with the game sounds my Malz skills improved greatly!

OK! I will explain that:
His spells have very specific sounds, especially malefic visions, this can let you know if you are able to kill the target currently affected, or just harass him badly. We don't want to overextend just to get that 1 extra kill.

OK for runes we want:
- mpen marks - for that extra kick early, and for those mresist stacking tanks late game.
- mp5 per level seals - as this build doesn't include lot of mana regen items.
- ap per level glyphs - we are not gonna play very aggressively early so its better to get the most of the ap later than the average early.
- ap per level quintessences - the above applies here


If you feel more comfortable with flat amounts you can always swap them, but I find this setup synergising well with my playstyle.

Here we're taking the standart 9/0/21 caster build, taking the improved exhaust in attack and getting the most of the mana and mana regen from utility.

Here we take Ignite and Exhaust.
Ignite is perfect combo with your ultimate, while a well timed exhaust can cause a second target to take the most damage from your null zone, as well as saving your *** in early ganks.

For skills the main thing is you want to max out Malefic Visions as fast as possible, it is your main harassment tool early as well as your main farming tool trough the game, the mana leech also helps you to stay in a lane longer.
Your second choice is obviously Call of the Void, it scales well with ap providing a good nuke + silence early on, tho I do not suggest active harassing with it before you get a catalyst as it will literally drain your mana.
On lv 5 we take 1 point in Null Zone to be able to put out a full killer combo(E+W+R+Q+ Ignite) at 6. After that our priority will be the other 2 skills, except ofcourse in cases where you are facing a high HP tank heavy opponents i.e Cho'gath, Mundo...
USE YOUR ULTIMATE ONLY IF YOUR TEAM HAS THE ADVANTAGE of the fight as it will stun you too, rendering you defenceless. Don't hesitate to W+R someone under your tower, but always be careful with it.
In teamfights you basically want to stay at the back helping your team with silences. When the fight starts simply lay down a Null Zone, cast Malefic Visions on their carry and Nether Grasp them on top of the Null Zone for maximum damage, cast Ignite while channeling the ult, and if possible Exhaust a second target on the Null Zone. If your team doesn't fail and kill 2-3 of the enemy champs feel free to pick off the remaining ones with malefic visions and call of the void.

Here's the tricky part, Malzahar scales extremely good with ap so basically all the ap items are good for him, this build concentrates on balanced survivability and ap, with alot of magic pen, as your team will often count on you to take out the enemy tank as fast as possible.

If you get mid start off with Doran's Ring, if you get to share a side lane pick up a Sapphire Crystal and some hp pots. Do not overextend early, you just want to harass them, go for a kill only if you are sure you can get it.
On the 1st trip back you should have enough to buy Boots and complete the catalyst, if you didn't get a good farm, or you got harassed alot get Ruby Crystal+boots and upgrade to catalyst later.
As soon as you have enough money, you should get a blasting wand, then save up for Giant's belt.
On the next trip back complete Rylai's scepter and sorc's shoes and start building towards rabadons deathcap.
This is your core build, the other 3 items are very situational.
* If the enemy has alot of physical dps you might consider buyng a frozen heart or zhonya's hourglass.
* If you're up against ap heavy team, then abyssal scepter, banshee's veil are your best choices.
* If your team is owning the game the above setup is good, also you can swap the void staff for a mejai's soulstealer if there are no magic resist stackers in the enemy team.
* If you're up against Veigar, try keeping it low on ap : get banshee, maybe FoN, or swap the entire build for:
- Archangel's staff, Banshee's veil, Frozen heart, w/e just keep it medium ap and high magic resist.
* against another Malzahar it is essential to buy quicksilver sash and banshee, trust me those 2 WILL save your life every time.


In conclusion - rush Rylai's and a catalyst, then upgrade to either rod of ages or banshee depending on the enemy, this will provide you a decent HP pool to survive early - to mid game, and some average ap to get kills.

With this build you won't get all the kills, but the enemy is guaranteed to fear you, in some cases they will begin popping all their ults on you, ignoring most of your team, which in most cases will lead to a possible death for you and an ace for your team, giving you the advantage.
You will become one of the most valuable teammembers and the most hated enemy :P
If you get really good in positioning and landing your Call of the Void early, and completing full combos later this may result in a quick surrender and lots of lulz.