My friend (Irelia) insists I give up mid for her saying how I'd do better top. I don't really know. What do you guys think?

id say irelia cause she is kinda weak in early game fights so by going top you can kind avoid them

Whatever hole your team needs covered more, AP or AD

Malz is the best mid champion.

Do they have an Urgot? He wil harass you to dead... proceed to just farm with e while under your tower.

They are both good top but Malz is a better solo mid so that answers your question.

Irelia. Her passive and ult makes her better at escaping ganks than Malz.

Do it

It really depends.

If it's a straight-up 1v1, jungler on both teams, most of the time I'd go with Irelia. her early game is poor, and she could do without being harassed too much.

However, if the enemy's an AP nuker or a 2v1, Malz. He can keep at range, and gets creeps just as well.

It's pretty even. Irelia has a semi-reliable stun for getting out of ganks, but it's still not that great for escaping. Malzahar has nothing for escapes, but it isn't really that much worse than Irelia's options.

So go with matchups. If matchups are roughly equal either way, the normal situation is to put Irelia top and Malzahar mid. Irelia scales better with items, and can benefit slightly more from the additional farm time that top usually gets -- and she has better sustainability post-6 with her ult.