Requested mage update feedback

To those who don't know, riot Stattik has announced the new mage update and has asked the community to give feedback on what direction the reworks should go as opposed to responding after they're done, which is much more difficult to fix and/or change. The post can be found here: http://boards.na.leagueoflegends.com/en/c/developer-corner/jQmE1EjE-mid-year-mage-update?comment=00290006

Now, the main 6 that riot wants feedback on in terms of identity, fairness, health...etc are Malzahar, Brand, Vel'koz, vladimir, zyra, and cassiopeia. I bounce around what champions I play a lot with only a few champs that I consistently come back to often, but I have played every champ quite a few times so I can at least give some accurate feedback to all 6 champions.

Malzahar:

1. His identity is "space-aids", voidlings and his ult. Of those three, the most "core" is his ult as far more people will choose malzahar for his lock down potential with the ult over his damage over time and voidlings.
2. Playing against him involves little interaction for many match ups. If you understand Malzahar's kit, you will avoid allied minions that have the damage over time spell so that it doesn't bounce to you, you will also avoid standing on his W's area of effect and dodge his Q whenever possible. His ult can ffeel very frustrating for most all-in champs such as Zed, Talon, Katarina, or Akali, but its range is low enough that he will likely have to obviously walk(or glide up to you) to use it so it is easy avoid by kiting or disengaging. Additionally, in team fights, his ult is very easy to cancel if your team has any form of hard crowd control.

Brand:

1. His core identity is his abundance of area of effect and damage over time components.
2. Playing against him means avoiding a lot of fire coming at you from the ground but the spell effect is clear, even in a team fight, so avoiding it is not unfair if you pay attention. The only frustrating element to brand's kit is hit ultimate. There isn't a clear indication of who it will bounce, who it won't...etc. Clarification on that would be very helpful.

Vel'koz:

1. Vel'koz's main identity is his unique Q and his laser. The q is fun because it has many clever uses and interactions and his ultimate is very fun and satisfying to use, the animation and damage make it truly feel like an ultimate.
2. Vel'koz does not have any true problems laning against him. If he lands his spells(except for the first tick of his w), it is easy to see how he either placed it correctly or you miss stepped. his ult can also be strafed or even outran due to the range being reasonable and his turn speed being appropriate.

Overall, Ve'lkoz is the least in need of a rework in this list.

Zyra: I actually play Zyra quite a bit as a support so anything I say about her will be from the perspective of a support or marksman, not a mid-laner.

1. Her main core is her plants, obviously. However, game play wise, her core is her area of effect crowd control. As a frequent Zyra player, my favorite abilities are her E for its snare and her ult for its knock-up.
2. as an marksman, particularly a hyper carry who is weak in the early game, it can be very frustrating to feel as though the enemy support Zyura is able to 1v1 you and kill you at a time of the game where you just want to farm up. However, if she misses her abilities she is a sitting duck and is squishy enough to give counter play.

Zyra is another champ who doesn't need much in the way of a rework. However, a new passive would be amazing since it is very slow and easy to dodge and requires her to die for her to even have a passive.

Vladimir: I play Vladimir quite often top lane so any comments i make about him is focused on his top lane game play, not mid lane.

1. To me, Vladimir's core is his ability to fight through damage(either by healing with his Q or spell vamp, or avoiding it with his W pool).
2. Playing against Vladimir can be either a very frustrating, or a laughably easy experience. Many champs that can all in effectively will do so whenever Vladimir uses his q on a minion and can win trades very easily. Champions that cannot all in, feel as though their poke is useless and just get worn down during the laning phase. It certainly works as intended due to the laning trinity of sustain>poke>burst. A seemingly common sentiment is that people wish Vladimir's q was not a point and click ability so that more outplay can be done.

Personally, I don't feel as though Vladimir is too strong or weak, the only ability I would love to see redone is his E as its ramp up is awkward and its range is too low for me personally due to my preferred play style.

Cassiopeia: I played Cassiopeia a lot in the mid lane before her last rework and immediately after until becoming disappointed with her.

1. Cassiopeia's main, core component is her poison, the bread and butter of what a snake wants to do.
2. Laning against her is a joke. her poison is only scary due to the E spam that follows. So, if Cassiopeia lacks the mana to spam her E on you, you can almost entirely disregard her Q and W poison. Heck if you have any sustain or tank items, you can spam your emotes just to make sure the enemy Cassiopeia realizes how pitiful her poisons are. She used to be scary if she reached late game due to the amount of damage she could output, and her damage output is still high, however, her damage is entirely tied to maintaining poisons so she can spam her E, which is also low range, and therefore it is easy to engage on her. Overall, she is a very underwhelming champ to play against as long as you are able to outlast or ignore her E barrage.

I am very happy that Riot is considering working on Cassiopeia again, many Cassiopeia fans and sympathizers will no doubt be thrilled if her power was redistributed to her poisons. As long as her Q and W do a lot of damage again, her E could be reworked entirely into a passive. I'm sure most Cassiopeia players are tired of pressing the E key anyway!

Well that's my attempt to help riot. If you care about any or all of these champs, I urge you to make you own post.

Edit: I meant to post this in miscellaneous since I wasn't sure which board this belonged on. I'm not sure how it ended up in gameplay nor do I know how to change it. If a kind board moderator could move this post to the appropriate board, it would be much appreciated.