Is Malzahar still viable?

I'm still new to this game, so it's hard for me to tell, but is Malzahar still viable or good as of late?

I got to try him for free this weekend, and even though my friend told me he's not very good, I kind of had fun playing this champion. I mainly enjoyed is E ability, which made creep farming easier, and I like how it was a way of quickly getting gold and more mana, but what I mostly enjoyed was how even when I was lower level than everyone else at times, I could still help in team fights by using his ult to silence and hold an enemy champion while a teammate finished them off.