I restrict it to simple round-trips (usually domestic) that I almost certainly intend to take. It's not flashy, but it's consistently 1.5 cents, which is huge.

I'm always amazed the number of people who stick it out for transfers, which are only reasonable in extremely large discrete amounts, and are increasingly difficult to value at or above 1.5 cpm anyway.

This. The "refresh" is a titanic, fundamental change to what the card is.

The original CSR was a card with an attractive value proposition simply for making it your go-to card for category spending, and it was easy to push people to make it to-of-wallet: a net-$150 AF card with 4.5% (floor if you don't xfer) back on some hugely popular categories, 1.5% on the rest, and a big enabled to the no-fee Freedom cards. It was a card for spending on.

The new card is a pale imitation of an Amex that's worse in most ways. To get any kind of value you need to already live the way Chase wants you to - consume very expensive luxury goods and services that match the coupon book's brand portfolio, use the Chase portal for your travel, etc. It's a good match if you fit that portfolio, but it's hard to imagine that a ton of the existing Sapphire customer base was this type, as I always thought Amex had that pattern nicely tied up, and Amex already has a huge leg up there both in having a better luxury benefit lineup (e.g. Centurion Lounges are far better than what Chase offers) and also being an established card company for HNW individuals (does Chase do 6-figure CLs without hassle?).