Angel on the hand would have you believe that it real magic, only possible with some mystical connection that he and only he alone possesses. the fact that he ridicules Blaine rather than acknowledging him as a fellow magician is just a lack of character on his part.
Actually, Criss Angel is the first to say that NOBODY has any sort of magical or mystical powers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtlpkjGXQeQ <--about 3 minutes in he says something like 'I do things to blur the lines to show that a lot of the thing [speaking about putting hooks into his back and flying] are not BS, but a lot of them are BS.'
He even reveals a trick, and that he's doing the same thing again in what was season 3...and the fact that he said it should have ruined the illusion, but millions of people probably think he has magical powers or uses crazy camera tricks...
I didn't see his close up work-with the cards-but He was born to do stage magic and large illusions, so I could actually see him doing less impressive magic with cards or 'street' elements.
Oh-and every magician that does a ton of illusions has a team of consultants, Blaine for instance has Dan White among others, David Copperfield had Chris Kenner and probably a whole slew of others helping him.
Most magicians come up with an idea and then ask 'How can this be accomplished?' and they all figure it out together or have someone figure it out for them. It's not a big deal really, any effect you learned from a DVD or Book is the same thing, your routine was bought like a consultant would be, through a different apparatus maybe, but its the same thing essentially.
So unless you have come up with every sleight in every trick with all original material yourself, you can not call someone else out for having people help him.