The good thing about the 853's is you can switch caps. So, I'd vote to get the cards, and if you don't like the sound, you can always buy omni caps later on. It's all about experimenting and finding what you like the most (check out all the gear sluts around here).
As for direct from AT vs SP...depends on your financial situation. With the SP mics, you can get setup with mics that will run on phantom or a batt box. You can rig this up with the AT versions as well, I suppose. Ignoring the SP phantom upgrade, I'd get the AT over the standard SP version...I ran both, the AT version is much better-sounding, but requires phantom power.
HTH.
J