I'd recommend focusing on getting comfortable with electronic/dual deployment. Furthermore I'd recommend building something pretty standard. Get to know how it all works the way it's usually done, and fly a whole bunch of flights like that.
By "standard" and "normal" I'm talking about a mid-airframe AV bay, with a single altimeter on a sled, in perhaps a regular-old 3FNC rocket. Don't go for anything exotic, or try to come up with something new & unusual - go for the proven methods and get the basics down. (Learn the rules first, and then start to break them!).
Build a workhorse rocket that can take some abuse, and fly it a lot. Stick with 38mm (maybe even 29mm) motors, and keep your flights low enough that you don't need to get into tracking (yet!) - perhaps 1500-3000' or so. Think in terms of LOTS of flights, rather than fewer flights that are more expensive per (bigger motors, tracking, exotic & unusual materials and features, etc.).
What kit? - there are tons out there that will do just fine. Heck, you could get an AV bay and a section of payload tube and convert that Formula54 into just the thing. Loads of great deals will be had this coming week with all the "black" sales - Rocketry Warehouse, Madcow, Wildman, etc. all make something that would be great. Scratch-built is definitely an option too.
I'd highly recommend the Missileworks RRC2+ for the altimeter - it's super capable, great to learn and grow with, easy to configure and use, and it's very affordable - even more so with, again, the upcoming "black" sales.
So, think in terms of a basic, workhorse, DUAL/ELECTRONIC DEPLOY rocket that you can fly a whole bunch. Fly it, tweak it along the way, and get comfortable. THEN start dreaming about something special.
Most of all, have fun with that L1 cert - there's a whole lot of great flying to be had at that level.
s6