The Best Sleight-of-Hand Artist ...

Nov 3, 2018
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Hi guys,
I'd be interested in knowing who you think the best modern sleight-of-hand artist is. Of course this is highly subjective; some people say it's Teller, some say it's Shin Lim, others say it's Ricky Jay. Anyway, I'd like to know what you think.
For the purpose of this discussion I don't care whether the artist is card magician, coin magician, or something else entirely. Also, feel free to interpret "modern sleight-of-hand artist" however you want to. Also, please give reasons for your choice.

Thank you all for your responses!
 
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Dec 1, 2013
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There are so many amazing sleight of hand guys out there!

Richard Turner absolutely has to be near the top of the list.

I think if this was a question about the Minds in magic Teller would be one of my choices.

I think this will be an interesting thread...
 

Gabriel Z.

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Apr 26, 2013
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My opinion is a little bit biased but I would have to go with Jason England and Steve Forte. The most practical advice I have ever received in my life. This happened almost three years ago on the Theory11 forum....Time to start applying it.

Zudeck.jpg
 
Sep 10, 2017
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First off, I wanna say I’m only judging these people by their sleight of hand skill, which might not be the best comparison if you’re looking for the magicians. But as I’m a move-monkey by heart, I can’t really judge people for their presentation that much. Also, there’s a level of creativity that should be mentioned here as there are a lot of great creators(e.g: Sankey) that aren’t the most skilled sleight of hand artists.
Anyway, for gambling and tabled stuff, anyone who has seen the GPS has to go with steve forte. Richard Turner, Johaness Maußner and Ross Tayler also a close second.
For General (close up) card magic, there are a lot of famous guys and it’s really hard to decide, but probably either Chris Brown, Jeremy Griffith or X Spade.
If we add cardistry to this category, it should be (in my personal opinion) Oliver Sogard, Andrei Jikh, the Buck twins and Aviv Morale.
In coin magic I have to go with Zee and Eric Jones.
I’m not much of fan of mentalism, but other than the cliche that is called Derren Brown, I really love the work of Banachek. And even though he’s the complete opposite of my style, Peter Turner is really interesting to watch.

P.S. On each Genre that I mentioned there are a lot of other people as well, but these were just the ones I consider to be the absolute best.
 
Sep 10, 2017
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You say DB is the cliched answer but he is prolific, and outside of the community is probably the most well known mentalist there is these days.
It’s true. And exactly because of that, he’s almost everybody’s (magician and non-magician) favorite mentalist. And because of that, I feel like saying DB is my favorite is too cliche.
 
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Jun 13, 2019
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Michael Vincent, for me. So good. I keep studying what he's doing and I just can't see it. At all. I've learned so much of my stuff so quickly by just watching him over and over.

Beyond that, there's a guy I've just learned about called Noel Albert Heath, and he is A Bit Good. There's a popular video you may have already seen of his simply called "ACES" which is absolutely worth a look.
 
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Sep 10, 2017
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Michael Vincent, for me. So good. I keep studying what he's doing and I just can't see it. At all. I've learned so much of my stuff so quickly by just watching him over and over.

Beyond that, there's a guy I've just learned about called Noel Albert Heath, and he is A Bit Good. There's a popular video you may have already seen of his simply called "ACES" which is absolutely worth a look.
Noel is mainly a cardist. He used to do magic, but except for a few stuff like ACE which you mentioned, there's almost no magic footage available from him.
 
Sep 10, 2017
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Shin Lim

Xavior Spade

Garrett Thomas

Teller

Richard Turner

Mahdi Gilbert

(in no particular order).
Yeah, Mahdi was a good choice. I had actually forgotten about him. He can do things with a deck of cards that I couldn’t even imagine to be possible. Not to mention that I have 2 fully functional hands.
There’s also a cardist (which for the life of me I can’t remember the name of) that has one good hand and his other hand is deformed. Even with this problem, he’s one of the best and most creative cardists I’ve seen. Heck, he even does cardistry with his feet.
 
Nov 3, 2018
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Thank you all for your contributions! Just to be clear: This post is meant to be purely about sleight of hand, so the method of presentation (or the skill of presentation) isn't really important here.
 
Jun 26, 2019
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I show my age (59) when I answer Ricky Jay. There are so many good sleight of hand artist about now a days. However, to watch Ricky Jay do the same several tricks four or five different ways in succession was mesmerizing!

I agree with an earlier statement...the keeper of all knowledge Magic is Teller.
 
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