Problem is once you go down the rabbit hole you keep tinkering.

Why just stop at Venture when you can add a SavorOne to get 3x dining and groceries?
Why stop at Double Cash and Premier when you can add Rewards+ and Custom Cash? That turns your rewards into 2.22x, 3.33x, and 5.55x.

With Citi you can book all of your Star Alliance awards with Avianca and Turkish so I don’t think you’re losing much not having Aeroplan. Choice Hotels being a 1:2 transfer partner opens up some decent options depending on the vacations you like to take. Choice Hotels offers good, sometimes the only, hotel options for US National Parks and there are select nice to very nice hotels in Europe under the Choice program.

Between Capital One and Citi, I’d choose Citi.

That said, if the intention is to stick with one or two cards and not do anymore signup bonuses, etc., I think it makes sense to go with AMEX and get the no annual fee Everyday and then either the Green or Gold card depending on your spend patterns. The reality is no issuer offers more opportunities to earn bonus points without signing up for a new card than AMEX. The Everyday is a great card because you can generally do the Everyday to Everyday Preferred upgrade/downgrade cycle every year getting you anywhere from 15,000-40,000 points for your trouble. Tons of other opportunities for bonus earn with AMEX that just don’t exist with other issuers.