At the moment, if you order from ellusionist and buy 18 decks, you get two of those 'rare' decks for free!
...only if he buys at the Ellusionist web site - he stated he's buying only through Amazon.
Good utility decks would be the Bicycle Masters (red and blue) and either design of the Tally Ho deck. The Shadow Masters are a great design, but you want something with serious longevity - any all-black deck will show signs of edge chipping after only a short amount of handling so they'd need to be treated with kid gloves and/or only used on special occasions. Definitely NOT a poker deck.
For something a little more exotic AND budget conscious...
From Ellusionist, I like the white Ghost and the white Arcane. No edge chipping issues and to the uninitiated they look "wicked-kewl". Plus, should you come into a little cash down the road, both decks have "special" varieties available from Ellusionist, like the gaff cards, the Rising Card deck, the Invisible deck, etc. Also a great deck pair would be the Artifice deck, version 2, in blue and green. They make great "neighborhood poker" decks.
From T11 - well...most of their current-issue stock is suitable for both purposes, not too many clunkers in there. That's largely because most T11 deck designs aren't full-custom - the faces are often recolored, using the darker reds of casino decks. Because Guardians are so cheap, both the T11 version and the USPC version, and have a few bonuses for magicians (hidden one-way back, two identical jokers and the T11 version has a blank face card and a double-backed card), they make a good go-to deck.
I also love the design of the Monarchs, both the original "black" and the newer "silver" - there's no good reason to go chasing after the rare white version and the super-rare gold version. The original Monarchs are the deck used throughout the movie "Now You See Me". They have a classy, traditional look to them and are also well-suited to the poker table.
T11 has some of the best prices online for the USPC basics - Bicyle, Bee, Tally Ho - especially if you buy in bulk.
Should you want to venture away from Amazon and check out some others, House of Playing Cards (HOPC) and the Blue Crown (two divisions of the same company) have some good, solid decks at reasonable prices - biggest recommendations in that department would be the Crown deck (in blue, red and green) and the new NOC version 2 decks (blue, red, green, purple, yellow). They are presently sold out of the blue, but like all of their staple designs, they'll get a reprint in due time and be back in stock. The NOCs have a pair of unique features for magicians - despite having a plain, solid-color, patternless back, they're marked for suit and they come with a bonus card (the version 2 deck has an extra 2 of hearts in each pack) allowing for some unique magic effects. The v1 NOCs weren't suit-marked, but they had a bonus Queen of Hearts in each pack. Additionally, their Altruism deck, both original and Snow Owl editions, have bonus Queens of Hearts due to a printing error - the uncut sheet has no Queen of Diamonds on it; they had to be printed separately and packaged separately in little envelopes to be given out with each deck sold.
Another thing to consider, for magic purposes, is getting some relatively inexpensive gaffed decks. Specifically, I'd recommend a stripper deck and a Mirage deck with the Bicycle Rider Back design and a GT Speedreader marked deck in the Bicycle Mandolin Back design. There's also a newer deck, a "Gambler's Deck", in the Bicycle Maiden Back design - it certainly costs a bit more, but it's a stripper deck, a marked deck and a stacked deck all in one. There's some phenomenal things you can do with that deck... If your budget is genuinely tight, though, get the one basic gaffed deck nearly every magician has no matter how much they'll deny it: a stripper deck. A Bike Rider Back stripper can be bought for about $7-8; I've noticed that the red decks have a less-shallow stripped edge to them than the blue ones, meaning they're easier to spot but also easier to use. Start with a red, work your way up to a blue. The current "Cadillac of strippers" on the market now would probably be the ones from Dan and Dave - expensive, but professional "underground casino" grade.
