Though I find this game to be lots of fun, I do think that most people are probably better off with a cashback card. Actually, most people probably shouldn't have a credit card to begin with (it pains me to say that given the differences in fraud protection but CC debt is something most are better off avoiding).
CC vs. debit is a matter of discipline but, of course, no real argument for most people if using a credit card in all but the direst circumstances means carrying a balance.
The issue with a lot of the rewards game is that the best "values" usually come from redeeming for awards that you'd never have considered actually paying cash for. There's still an equivalent cash value to you that may or may not be more than the 1-2% of actual cash you could collect but it's often not really free money in that you're giving up some level of actual fungible cash to get it.
