This is definitely situational. Haven't shopped at Saks in years since I discovered the internet and price comparison sites/rebate or miles malls/coupon codes/etc. Whatever the card would give me in a rebate would be unlikely to make up for the out of pocket cash I would pay for buying the item at Saks in the first place. Of course, YMMV.

I can definitely agree with the Merrill+ card, but again other people might not need it (especially if they never fly AA or Delta).

The back of envelope calculation would never pull me toward the Amex (blue was it?) though, as I would rather spend those dollars on my SPG Amex. My simple calculation: if I was at 135k spend, that could be bumped to 140k, and with those points, not even trying to maximize their use I could transfer to AA for 175K AA miles. That gets me a Oneworld award with a serious value (to me) far greater than $2k cash. Again, of course, YMMV.

Some of us, as well, still have other valuable cards which we would never stop spending on...I have the (very short lived as an offer) Chase Rewards plus card. 5 pts per $1 for groceries, gas, drugstores, which comes out as a 5% rebate at worst if exchanged for gift cards. As long as I keep getting that return I will never use a different card grocery shopping or filling up! I also have a Citi Professional which I use only for restaurants. At 3 pts/$1 I can get a domestic ticket (with their limitations of course) after spending $6667 when we eat out. That same spending on a cash back card (1.5%) would get me just over $100 cash, instead of a $400 ticket (and again this would have to be after their minimum spend). I would much rather have the ticket than the $100 cash, but others may just want the money.

Other people can talk about Citi Premier Pass, the Fidelity Visa, Citi Driver's Edge, Juniper's US Airways Card (at 1.5 miles per for first year), as well as the Citi AA churn.

Your Value May Vary, of course!