Go for it.

A few flights, including an international one, would be more than enough to convince me to pull the trigger - even if DL is known for holding firm on the "once-per-account" rule.

Figure the real pain is in the 0 to 25,000 mile range - if you're flying most of that, I'd use the status match. Sure, the ideal play would be to match to mid-tier in a year when you're going to then requal at least once at mid-tier. Then you're maximizing your total bonus and total "avoidance" of both no-tier and low-tier travel.

But that "perfect" opportunity may never come, so avoiding the bulk of the no-status travel load would be good enough for me.