This is how it's eventually going to land it looks like, once I downgrade a personal Platinum to a Gold yet again, after a schweet 100K + 5x supermarkets+dining for 6 months upgrade offer (until then I have some other cards that cover at 3x).

It's a mixed AMEX/Capital One combination, with some extra cards for spice (rent coverage being a notable need now that PayPal Key is deceased). The Charles Schwab Platinum variant is used for a 1.1 cpp potential cashout value on AMEX.

Rent: Bilt (1x but nearly impossible to get a credit card rebate without hefty fees and/or nuisance value)
Airfare: mostly AMEX CS Plat (5x), sometimes Hilton Aspire (7x, works well with Delta to get $$ refunded on $250 travel spend a year)
Hotels: mostly AMEX Green (3x), sometimes CS Plat (5x to burn FHR credit), VentureX (10x when burning $300 travel credit, a fallback if AMEX won't work), Aspire (14x on Hilton, burn $250 resort credit), Bonvoy Brilliant (6x, burn $300 Marriott credit, but likely on the kill list this December)
Car rentals, other travel: mostly AMEX Green (3x), VentureX (2x, a fallback if AMEX won't work)
Dining: mostly AMEX Gold (4x), sometimes Capital One Savor One (3x) or Bilt (3x) when AMEX isn't an option
Entertainment: Capital One Savor One (3x)
Groceries: AMEX Gold (4x Supermarkets), Capital One (3x, "Grocery" is a wider category than "Supermarket" and I do shop at places that aren't supermarkets)
Amazon: Amazon Prime Store Card (5%)
Everything else: VentureX (2x)

I don't really get the "but you're stranding points by spreading everything out" because for AMEX/Capital One/Bilt there are more than enough overlapping partners I find useful such that nothing is being stranded (at worst it's 1/1.1 cpp cashout value on the AMEX/C1 side, on Bilt I'm pretty sure I can get close to 2 cpp on Hyatt). I get enough value out of the "coupon book" that the Platinum works, and enough out of Green + travel expenses that it works too. Goal is generally a longhaul international trip in J every year or so. I don't own a car, but I do enough carshare and car rentals that an AMEX Green will make sense.

The nice part is that I am not locked out of Hyatt accumulation whilst I wait to go from LOL/24 to under 5/24...