I kind of go all over the place; generally I buy masters and miniatures for flavor and look first, I currently have 4 masters and I'm planning on buying at least 8 more,
The way I see it between putting the model together, proper basing and painting, you're going to be putting quite a bit of time and effort into your models, and it should be a model you love. Not one you buy just because "it's the best and its what the meta tells me I should buy". I know that's how some people play, and I'm not going to tell them they're wrong or they should stop doing it, but it's wrong for me.
right now the masters I have are Jack Daw, The Dreamer, Jakob Lynch and McMourning.