I remember when Riot said they didn't want Malzahar to be played like a Flash Ult bot

Like, all you you had to do was increase the Ult CD (like you did) and then just nerf the amount of damage Malzahar Q dealt to minions so as Meddler said he would push less hard at all stages of the game and can't just roam 24/7 and his opposing laner can try to counter the shove or all-in him once he uses his Q W E trying to shove.

Right now his Q lost 90+15%AP damage, his W is some sort of joke that just helps you push, it instantly dies in teamfights or to any other waveclear spell, his E lost 100 damage and now draws creep aggro, 0 reason for him to even interact with his laner, he just has no damage to kill someone and he's better just conserving his mana so he can shove with E W, only things he needs to do in lane is just wait for his jungler, E Q W R and let his jungler do the rest 50% of your HP because no way he can 100-0 someone like before, the enemy just ends up at 50%-40% HP and then just kills him.

Lategame he just ghosts or flashes and ults someone so his team can kill the guy for him, he can't even assassinate someone even though his secondary role was once assassin.