Then I found out why the deals were so so good: Discover Card has low acceptance, especially internationally, and this is often because Discover charges relatively high transaction fees. I also learned that Discover, despite its reputation and age, had only one physical branch, in Delaware or something, and so my inner masochist immediately recognized my true financial love.
I also picked up a Discover Bank checking account, which has even lower acceptance rates, but also offers 1% cash-back if I feel like an adventure.
Since then, Discover eliminated their sole physical branch location, and their credit card division was also acquired by Capital One, https://m.xkcd.com/2206/
But I feel like the proliferation now of Apple/Google/Samsung Pay, Zelle, PayPal, Venmo, et al., will stave off any large-scale gouging of consumers through transaction fees.