UKC

Why would you say deserves top spot?

Paul Daniels, Pen and Teller or maybe David Blaine?

Seeing Derren Brown pretend to stop his heart using the power of his mind (when he was clearly just tapping a microphone), I failed to suspend my disbelief. Would MC Escher count? His illusions don't pertain to be magical but you can puzzle over them and try and work out how he's created them without the show business side of things.

David Nixon

Keyser Soze, Lord Lucan and Shergar

All the same person.

Tommy Cooper

You'll need a proper magic buff to answer this. Otherwise it's a bit like asking: what's the world's best mountain: Mount Snowdon, Mount Ben Nevis, or Mount Everest? 'Real climbers' will be rolling their eyes. 

I've seen some pretty cool magic stuff on youtube from people I've never heard of, not taking much of an interest in that world, 

So, I suspect the answer will be someone you've never heard of, but is the bloke that Daniels, P&T and Blaine nicked their tricks from

Pen and Teller for me, brilliant act

You have to be really skilled to do magic that "badly" and still be entertaining.

Don't tell 'em, Pike!

One of the best I've seen, in amongst all the offensive/hilarious narrative: Jerry Sadowitz.

Maxwell. 

Schrödinger

Card magic rather than illusionism but Richard Turner is pretty much uniquely gifted, even if you ignore his lack of visual feedback.

Father Roger Crosthwaite 

what he can do with cards is ungodly!

https://geniimagazine.com/wiki/index.php?title=Roger_Crosthwaite

The Pendragons

Dynamo? 

Copperfield

The Great Suprendo.

Pif paf poof!

As a kid, he was my magical hero.