Thank you for your clear and concise explanation on the thought process of your team in deliberating this proposal.
I know there's a lot of other angles on the issue of reward exploitations in every NFT game and you guys are doing well addressing these issues.
I get your point when you said
you may earn fewer rewards compared to the previous system, but that is well worth it to create a better system which is likely to increase the value of those rewards significantly over time.
I see it synonymous to having 1% share of $1M market cap, than 100% share of $0M market cap... Or something worthless to that effect like these CL and CL reward cards will be if not we're not motivated to combine.
About the levelling up of cards
1. Gameplay side
Some cards are really not worth combining to the next level.
I think it might be a better option to make sure on the dev/creatives side to make sure each card level is worth achieving.
I also love the idea where we can select the lower level of the card we want to play. An example of where I want this is with Adelade Brightwing where level 4 gives Swiftness. I like playing her in reverse ruleset, but she has to be level 3 to not penalize my team with that swiftness.
My workaround here currently is I rent level 4 Regular Foil and level 3 Gold Foil so I can select the Gold Foil filter for Reverse Speed.
2. Economy side
I agree on all your point here.
We really need card owners to combine these cards so they can increase in value again.
Plus we want renters to rent these higher level cards so Cardlords / investors will have the incentive to buy more cards. Incentive in terms of Capital gains + Rental Passive Income
Rental Passive Income is my motivation to own more cards.
3rd party tools such as 
people here might see this as a bias opinion
I am Pinoy. I'm not proud of it, just saying.
I currently have $3,546.26 worth of assets (cards, HP, other assets in Splinterlands) as of this writing.
This is an NFT game, where we are expected to invest to earn so I am investing.
I know this is not a lot for most of you, but being here in the Philippines $3.5k is 16.5x of minimum monthly wage.
My point is, I consider myself really invested in this game and Hive network so I get all the Economy side points you listed here.
Clarifying question:
You mentioned
This proposed change to how card levels used in battles affect rewards would be a big first step in the direction of removing CP requirements for ranked leagues altogether.
Does this mean that rating will now be the only factor for determining the league? Especially for these below:
a. Rshares
b. SPS battle rewards
c. Daily Focus Chest
d. Leaderboards
Again, thank you for taking the time to explain this. Hope to also get clarity on this last question.
RE: Thoughts on the Latest SPS Governance Proposal