Zammy for the new school.
Ed for the flip side.
Riccardo. 'Nuff said.
who’s most innovative is an almost impossible question. the upper-most echelon of players are all almost exclusively doing their own tricks, and almost all maintain a really progressive attitude. that’s out of necessity, since with top players and competitors there’s such a stigma against NOT being original that everyone is driven to innovate to some degree. so the question could become either “who’s original style seems LEAST reliant upon outside sources?” or “who’s innovations have the most significant, far-reaching influence?”
i honestly don’t watch current trends closely enough to be able to answer either of those questions accurately, but i’d definitely cite players like drew tetz, dan ickler, abe z, rodrigo pires, and riccardo fraolini in the first category and players like yuuki, steve brown, doc pop, escolar, and jason lee in the second. spencer berry may be my ultimate archetype for an innovative yo-yoer, and imo he’s one of the few at the top of both categories.