oh man, i was in this exact boat not too long ago. thing is, the more i read and looked around, the more i realized i couldn't pick a frame, haha. i was really in love with the crust evasion for a long time, and it was looking like it was going to be the winner.
but then what ended up happening was that i got on ebay one night kinda drunk and bought an old 90s univega 26" steel mountain bike frame for $20 and now i'm building it up instead. it's got those rad, dropped "max mudroom" chain stays and i picked up a surly troll fork for it and am collecting the rest of the parts now.
my thought at the time was i could build this thing dirt cheap and enjoy it this summer. then as the weather turns, i may pull it apart and convert it to 27.5.
i guess my point is, depending on how cheap you're willing to go, don't forget there's still a lot of awesome old school steel mountain bikes out there just begging to be reborn! that said, i really wish i could justify a new bike. nothing like being the first to make a particular bike their own!