Buying LS3a or ASW20a? ~$25k cross country glider. Which one and why?

Maybe it's because im shopping a similar price range but it seems there's not much worth persuing among the aircraft you've listed in the U.S. Segelflug.de is what the europeans use for posting gliders for sale. You'll get a better value even with the transportation and exchange rate. Most of the gliders over here at that price point are pretty well neglected. On the other hand if you can live with a slightly lower performance glider, you can find Cirrus, Ls1, and Libelles at a lower price point in much better shape. For 20-30k you have to sacrifice at least one of the following: finish, customer support/parts, performance...forget about instrumentation it's not there.
Look on the bright side, glider manufacturers are buiding more motor gliders than pure these days and soaring in the States is in steep decline, soon we'll have a market flush with once expensive self launchers!

Having been in a similar situation over the winter with a price range up to $45K, I actually chose a cheaper alternative, Jantar Std 2.

Reasons being no gelcoat, very sturdy, awesome spoilers (outlanding fields here in the northeast aren't huge) and having some time in one.

I also like the reclined position.

I'm around 100h mark so it'll be a while until the ship will be holding me back from making awesome.

I did consider Ls-3, Pegase, DG-200, HP-14/18, Ventus C 17.6. At the time there were no ASW-20's that seemed like a good deal.

Seems to be some decent deals for westeners on wingsandwheels. DG-20(2/0), (Open) Cirrus and Kestrel would be on top of my list to look at if I were looking out west right now. Save some money now for tows and get a 3rd gen glass ship in 5-10 years for way cheaper than what they go for now.