Mordekaiser rework: Please try again

Here's an ability-by-ability breakdown of why I think the Mordekaiser rework is going to be a giant fail:

Passive: Mordekaiser's abilities cost health, but he converts 25% of the magic damage they deal into a temporary shield.

--> OK, I'm not worries about this one. There are only numbers changes here.

Q: Mordekaiser's next 3 hits are empowered. The first deals 4/8/12/16/20 (+.25/.2625/.275/.2875/.3 total AD) (+.2 AP) bonus magic damage. Each extra strike deals 2/2.25/2.5/2.75/3 times the bonus damage of the last, up to X (+X total AD) (+X AP).

--> Mordekaiser is a melee champion and slow in his current PBE form (325 base movement speed); the only melee champions at his movement speed tier are Blitzcrank, Mega Gnar, and Nautilus. He also lacks a mobility skill. This means that getting your Q hits off (especially the third one) is pretty darn difficult. However, the reward for hitting that Q is huge, since 9x is a giant multiplier and it scales with AD and AP; see here for an example of a not particularly fed Mordekaiser one-shotting a carry. CertainlyT said, "I do not think that Mordekaiser can ever be a marquee example of a healthy solo lane champion given how stark his strengths and weakness profile is"; see here. However, this ability in its current form his basically the definition of "stark strengths and weaknesses," since it is very likely to be useless or terribly OP. Numbers tuning will only help so much.

W: Passive: Even with allies present, Mordekaiser gains full experience toward leveling up from minions he kills. Active: Target an ally champion: Both gain 75 movement speed toward one another. When they touch, both deal 140/180/220/260/280 (+.6 AP) magic damage over 4 seconds. Reactivate to both instantly steal 50/70/90/110/130 (+.3 AP) health from nearby enemies (33% heal on minions, max 3 unites; deals magic damage).

--> There are two main problems here. First, removing the ability to self-cast is a ham-handed attempt to force him into a duo lane, and just feels bad if you're ever caught alone. Second, and related, I personally don't think that the way champions gain experience is something that should be screwed with. Again, it's more "SCREW YOU, SOLO LANE MORDES; PLAY HIM BOT." I think it's fine to design a champion with a kit that favors duo lane play and see if he winds up there, but forcing it in this way (particularly on an old champion that most people play in a solo lane, rather than on a completely new champion) feels very inelegant.

E: Mordekaiser deals 35/65/95/125/155 (+.6 total AD) (+.6 AP) magic damage in a cone. For each Champion hit, he gains 15% maximum shield.

--> Not much to see here. Again, only numbers changes.

R: Passive - Dragon Force: Damaging the Dragon will Curse it for 10 Seconds. Active: Curse target Champion and steal 25/30/35 (+.04)% of their maximum health (half initially, half over 10 seconds; deals magic damage). Curse Effect: When killed by Mordekaiser's team, the Cursed unit's soul will follow Mordekaiser for 45/60/75 seconds. Mordekaiser gains 30% of their ability power and 25% of their bonus health. The ghost gains 10/25/50 attack damage and 15% of Mordekaiser's maximum health. The ghost can be controlled by hitting the alt key and using the right mouse button or by reactivating this ability.

-->OK, first thing to mention: Controlling a ghost dragon is really cool. My only concern here (which could possibly be addressed with numbers changes) is that having "stark strengths and weaknesses" (i.e. being either super-OP or else useless) is the main problem with Mordekaiser, and why he's up for a rework. It seems to me that increasing the duration on Mordekaiser's ult just exacerbates the problem because the ability is practically useless if you don't kill a champion/dragon, but it's insanely good if you do. This ability also really skews the value of getting dragon when Mordekaiser is in the game. Personally, I'd prefer to see a shorter duration (like the original ability) or a weaker ghost. A caveat here is that I haven't seen the ability in action, so maybe I'm overestimating how good it is.

To sum up: I think that unless he's just underpowered (making him a troll pick), Mordekaiser is going to be permabanned because he'll be amazing when he's good, and terrible when he's bad. These kind of champions are super-annoying because you tend to remember the games where their Mordekaiser destroyed your face, or your Mordekaiser fell on his. So, I think a lot of people will ban him because they don't want to play with or against him. Mordekaiser isn't causing tremendous problems at the moment, so I'd rather they just hold off on the rework for now and work on a more extensive set of changes later.