Specifically in terms of “style and flavor” as opposed to “fast and technical.”
I’m the 4th best in the world.
There are Charles Haycock, Andrew Bergen, Everybody Else, and then Me!
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Mickey
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In terms of contest wins, definitely mickey. I feel like there are a lot of innovators that can be considered too. JD made unresponsive popular back in 2003, along with grinds and tech. Spencer Berry, markmont, yuuki Spencer, guy wright, Jason Lee, takahiro iizuka, etc. The list is long 
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Had this conversation a lot. I reckon it’s Takeshi. He’s been up there for so long, invented the meta so many times, and he’s still coming out with incredible things every year. All that and he’s been dominant in another style while he’s at it.
That said, I’m partial to Yusukes freestyles, dude flow god and Victor Sacchelli has the best seasick in the world, fight me (or don’t)
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I would say Takeshi is the best right now, but all time I would still give it to mickey
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Yeah, I’m going to have to say Hiroyuki Suzuki.
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I don’t think the OP means best competitor, but I could be wrong…? ¯_(ツ)_/¯
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Jensen all day for me.
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Polo
A-RT Crew and Yuki Nishisako.
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Hiroyuki Suzuki,gentry stein,Evan nagao,shinya kido. They do horizontal yo-yoing also fast for which I like them.please guys don’t forget janos.k and Brandon.vu . They may be great but always respect the teachers andre yo Boulay from yye and Adam b from YoTricks. Because of them truly all are yoyoing.
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Tyler Vienneau. That dude is a beast. I love that he can get super technical, but he can also just make mundane tricks look amazing.
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That’s easy! Everyone knows that it’s me… Come on, no brainier lol😆
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Exactly.
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This thread would be better if people could post videos (if one is available) with their choices.
I havent seen an excessive amount of yoyo play, but out of the stuff ive seen im going to make the obvious contemporary pick: Evan Nagao. I just love the passion and all of the routines ive seen from him just wow and inspire me to pick up a yoyo after I watch. This is definitely one of the greatest things ive ever seen:
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Takeshi Matsuura would the best for me.
Theres Mickey, Markmont, Yuuki and many others but i think Takeshi has been one of the most innovative, and still remains amazing today. He has influenced the meta and has been in the yoyoing scene for sooo long.
Mickey has influenced the meta for so long too and he has become world champion for so many times.
Although his style is slightly, well old. Mickey is still a legend though, and he would be my second.
Based on opinion though, Keiran, Shion, Evan, Tyler, Kurti, Andrew Maider and many others are really amazing too
Gentry was really an innovator as far as routines go, specifically having really strong choreography with the song rather than just kinda matching the speed. This is actually fairly significant as far as making a routine entertaining for beginners/non-yoyoers.
Style/flavorwise though, I really like Jensen.
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IMO your way to define who could be the best player is not good at all. You make it sound like someone who’s fast and technical would never be stylish. I find this kind of separating yoyo players detrimental to the experience of yoyo, because it adds up to the nonsensic argument some people have that for some unclear reason, yoyo competitions are not that good, and by extension, the player whose playstyle caters to competitions aren’t that good.
For me, Jensen would fit this criteria, but you have to remember Jensen was the Gentry Stein/Nate Dailey of 2009-2010: Won every competition he attended in 2010, influenced literally ever player alive to some extent and thanks to him, the judging system in comps had to be redefined. He wouldn’t be as nearly as the influential legend he is right now, if it wasn’t for his past as a contest slaying machine. That’s the reason why he is the most refined 1A player out there. Same for 4-time world champion Mickey, who literally invented/popularized the speed combos people hate so much, same for 2-time world champion Yuuki, who is often regarded as the most technical player ever. And it would be really hard to call Mickey’s and Yuuki’s playstyle not “stylish and full of flavor”.
Some of this opinions i’ve had saved for a long time now lol, Sorry, i just had to put it out there.
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PREACH
Best post of the week 
I forgot about the god of tech Yuuki. Gotta add him in with Mickey and Takeshi
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