LC Anderson Trojan Classic
2022 — Austin, TX/US
Novice Policy Paradigm List
All Paradigms: Show HideWhat are your stylistic preferences for extemp? How much evidence do you prefer? Any preference for virtual delivery?
It's important that the extemp format is followed. I would prefer there be a min. of 2 sources per point. I prefer an AG that you can tie back to during each transition.
What are your stylistic preferences for Oratory/Info? How much evidence do you prefer?
Much like extemp at least 2-3 sources per point. I like the intro to be tied into the subject and your transitions link back to your AG.
Any unique thoughts on teasers/introductions for Interpretation events?
I love teasers! Make sure you intro truly introduce your piece and it isn't too long
Any preferences with respect to blocking, movement, etc.?
I prefer there to be lots of movement and blocking. Help me visualize where you are and who you are talking to.
How do you feel about author's intent and appropriateness of a piece? For example: an HI of Miracle Worker (author's intent) or a student performing mature material or using curse words (appropriateness)?
I'm not ok with vulgar pieces. I am ok with some profanity but not a lot.
WSD Judging
I'm looking for teams who can defend their case and attack their opponents. I expect you to use the proper terms (opp/prop/motions) You will lose points from me if you are rude in anyway. I'm looking for everyone to be good speakers and be able to explain their side in a way that makes sense and convinces me that you should win.
Add me- asch.debate@gmail.com
I debate for Hendrickson High School - Currently on my 3rd year of CX
I'm ok with you running any argument- make sure you warrant it out and explain to me your evidence BUT if you say any racist/sexist/homophobic/transphobic/xenophobic etc I'll stop the round and give you 0 speaks.
Topicality
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I don't mind it, as long as you in depth explain to me why your impacts matter, explicitly state why the aff isn't topical
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The more credible and relevant the evidence, the better.
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Include a case list- you can't just tell me something isn't topical and not include example of affs that are topical under the resolution- I will most likely err aff
Framework
- I need this to be argued in a way where you can demonstrate to me why I should frame the debate in the way you want me to
- Why should I view debate and the structure of the round through a certain lense?
Framing
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If you don't provide anything else for me to weigh, I will default to util.
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Love it but you can't simply rely on cards and blocks- know your arguments
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On this note, impact calc!
Ks
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I LOVE K's
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You must include a link, alt and impact
- Framework is the most important part of the flow - I need to know how I should view the rest of the debate. The more self serving, the better :)
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Explain to me why the scholarly literature behind your evidence should be prefer over the aff
CPs
- Explain the net benefit to me
- I'll evaluate sufficiency framing but there is such thing as absolute defense. YOU STILL MUST WIN SOME RISK OF SOLVENCY
- If extended and explained well- I will vote on a perm
DAs
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All parts of the DA HAVE to be extended throughout the debate, dropping one will make it harder for me to vote on it and a smart 2A that points it out will persuade me to vote for them
- I said it before and I'll say it again IMPACT CALC!
Lastly, have fun! :)
(Any questions send me and email!)
Westwood CC
Please name the email chain: "Tournament - Round X - Team (AFF) vs Team (NEG)" - "TOC - Round 1 - Westwood CC (AFF) vs Westwood BS (NEG)".
Top Level Thoughts -- Stolen from Het Desai
-- The first 20 seconds of the 2NR and 2AR should be the words that you hope I repeat back to you at the beginning of my decision. Holding my hand will be rewarded with higher speaker points, a quicker decision time, and a more favorable RFD.
-- I will rarely instantly decide the debate on a single dropped argument alone and will only consider that dropped argument in the broader scheme of what occurred. I will follow something resembling the following structure to make my decision:
A. List the arguments extended into the 2NR and the 2AR
B. Ask myself what, as per the 2NR and 2AR, winning these arguments will get for either the affirmative or the negative. The answer to this question will sometimes be “absolutely nothing” at which point I will cross these arguments off my flow.
C. Trace whether these points of disagreement were present previously in the debate. This will only include substantive argumentation, but will not include framing devices introduced in the 2NR and the 2AR.
D. Compare the negative and affirmative’s central issues by asking myself if losing a certain argument for a certain team will still allow for that team to win the debate.
-- Tech > truth in most instances. Unless I’m offered an alternative framework to judge debates, I will default to assuming that dropped arguments are true arguments. That being said, technical debating does not warrant an auto-win and the assumption that certain arguments are auto round winners when dropped leads to disastrous decisions. For instance, judges seem to automatically assume that “realism good” is an impact turn to every IR critical argument come 2020. While it would certainly be nice if the negative explained which portions of realism they agree/disagree with (e.g. rational actor model, the model of the nation state, etc.), it is not the burden of the 2NR to answer “realism good” in this hypothetical situation if the 1AC, 2AC, and 1AR choose not to explain why winning realism is good/true implicates the negative’s arguments.
-- Numbering, labeling, and compartmentalization are very important for me. Whenever possible, each argument in the 2AC should be numbered / labeled and those numbers / labels should be referenced for the rest of the debate. The 2NC and the 2NR’s responses to affirmative arguments should always be numbered.
-- Sound like you want to be here.
-- Debate is incredibly difficult and time-consuming. I love this activity and hope you can as well. I have tremendous respect for the hard work you’ve done to come here and will try to reciprocate that in my decision. I will be ready to defend my decision. Thus, “If you feel unsatisfied with my RFD, I encourage you to post-round me. I will not take any offense or judge your personality because of your reaction to my decision. I was/am always quick to disagree with judges as a debater and have always considered disagreement the highest form of respect.”– Vikas Burugu.
Sreyas Rajgopal: "actual arguments > ad homs" I will not evaluate any arguments about anything that occurred outside of the round outside of disclosure etc. or render a decision about the ethicality of any person I am judging. I don’t know you and this is incredibly uncomfortable.
Framework
1. I feel very comfortable evaluating these debates. I do not think I have significant ideological preferences for either side and have spent an absurd amount of time strategizing arguments for both sides. “Don't over-adapt to me in these debates. If you are most comfortable going for procedural fairness, do that. If you like going for advocacy skills, you do you. Like any other debate, framework debates hinge on impact calculus and comparison” – Yao Yao Chen. I went for mainly procedural-based impacts centered around clash and argumentative refinement when I was negative. This strategy requires greater defense to the aff’s impact turns, but makes it less difficult for you to indict the aff counter-interp.
2. Switch side debate is massively underutilized in HS debate. Most 2NRs assert TVA and SSD with no connection to the rest of the arguments. The 2NC and 2NR should spend time applying their impact filters to specific parts of aff offense. This can be made most effective by explaining your switch side argument on the impact turn you believe it resolves the best.
3. “TVA: who cares. If the 1AC says "reduce FMS to Saudi - we must discuss the Yemen War now!" on the water topic, it is not the negative's burden to describe how the aff team could have made their 1AC topical. TVA could be useful as defense (especially if conceded) but tends to factor little in my decisions” – Shree Awsare.
4. Most Framework approaches can be filtered into one of two categories:
A) Finding a middle ground
While this approach will be significantly harder to assemble / formulate, it gives affirmative teams the ability to impact turn both the content of debates that would occur under the negative’s interpretation AND the reading of framework with significantly less drawbacks than the impact turn approach. It will, however, require affirmative’s to wade through the traditional components of a topicality debate and will be subject to good negative teams closely scrutinizing affirmative counterinterpretations. An important question that not enough negative teams ask is how the aff’s counter-interpretation solves their impact turns. “Aff odds of winning are substantially higher if you persuade me that the negative can debate the aff over the course of a season with a relatively even win-percentage. Advance impact-turns boldly, but do not forget defense” – Rafael Pierry.
B) Impact turning topicality
This argument is only particularly persuasive if you win an argument aside from competing interpretations for how a debate should be evaluated. Unless your argument is debate bad, I will struggle to find a way to vote for no topic at all against a competent negative team. However, if you do win an argument that reduces the question of my ballot to an individual debate, the impact-turn only approach becomes much more viable. Aff offense here should focus on why the 1NC’s reading of framework is violent.
5. Neg teams should extend presumption and contest aff solvency throughout the debate. This will make it much more difficult for the aff to shift to more persuasive impact turns that are likely not resolved by their counter-interpretation/the ballot.
6. The 2AR should center 1-2 pieces of central offense through which to explain their strategy. “Less random DA’s that are basically the same, and more internal links to fully developed DA’s. Most of the time your DA’s to the TVA are the same offense you’ve already read elsewhere” – Joshua Michael.
7. Fairness is an "impact" vs. "internal link". Who cares?! This is a distinction without a difference. We've mutually agreed how this works in all other contexts, so why is this any different? A "nuclear war" is an impact until the other team reads nuclear war good. No one would ever continue to argue "nuclear war" is their impact. They would refer to the negative effects of that nuclear war (mass death) as their impact. Fairness is no different, so it should be debated as such.
Kritiks v Plan
1. I’m comfortable in these debates as well. I have at least a decent grasp on most of the common Ks in debate and have likely went for them a number of times.
2. How you frame your arguments will likely have a significant impact on my evaluation of them. “All debate is storytelling, but K debate especially so” – Anirudh Prabhu. Not enough preparation is spent on how you will package your arguments, cross-examination, and/or general round vision.
3. Framework means a lot more to me than it does to some judges. A vast majority of judges seem to arbitrarily intervene and decide to take a middle stance on the framework debate and generate their own justifications for why this “middle stance” is preferable. I will avoid doing this at all costs and only decide between the interpretations present in the 2NR and the 2AR. It will likely be the first argument I evaluate, unless the affirmative has decided not to prioritize it.
“How I should "weigh the aff" versus the K is rarely self evident. I don’t mind a little bit of arbitrariness in a framework interp if you are instructing me clearly on how to evaluate your offense versus their offense” – Anirudh Prabhu. Negative defense to the aff’s standards are usually insufficient and should be prioritized more, while aff teams should borrow more from their negative framework arsenal against planless affirmatives and explain why a model of debate where the affirmative gets to weigh the plan is most reflective of the resolution and why debate over that predictable stasis point is the best model.
4. High link specificity will be rewarded. Although I will still evaluate the debate as presented, demonstrating you’ve thought about how your K interacts with the affirmative will be rewarded in speaker points and in the decision. Unlike many other judges, I will certainly be willing to vote on turns case arguments when your link arguments are well-explained in the context of the affirmative.
5. The permutation is overrated as the basis for affirmative strategy because of debate’s reliance on offense/defense evaluation. Winning on the permutation often requires winning independent of the permutation as well. Instead, Affirmatives should prioritize developing their aff as offense more.
6. Extinction outweighs is a devastating argument against most neg Ks. I have a difficult time understanding neg responses as they are reliant on Framework and/or do not contest the specific scenario for extinction in the 1AC. “If you're reading a policy aff that clearly links, I'll be pretty confused if you don't go impact turns/case outweighs” – DKP.
Kritiks/Other Strategies v No Plan
If technical debating and argument comparison is not lost, I will enjoy the debate. These debates are incredibly difficult, but rewarding to engage in.
1. It will be difficult to convince me that your K aff does not have to defend something. You got to pick and choose what to defend and should be held responsible for those choices. This becomes less true as the neg's criticism becomes more trivial, but I will have a relatively lower threshold for link explanation.
2. I am not persuaded by “no perms in method debates”. Although permutations tend to get out of control in these debates, I do not believe entirely abandoning competition is the solution. The negative needs links that disprove the aff. However, the threshold for a no link argument if one is forwarded by the affirmative will be higher. The neg is best served explicitly establishing a higher threshold which I will be receptive to.
3. Go for presumption. Press the aff on its ability to solve. Vague assertions about your aff will not be rewarded with either the ballot or speaker points and I will not be lenient to new aff extrapolation.
4. Go for Topic DAs and Impact Turns if the affirmative links. Or better yet, link them to it. Usually, aff responses are woefully insufficient.
5. This might sound terrible for the aff, but if the neg does not refute aff shifts with specific link explanation, I’m likely quite a good judge for the aff. Kritikal affirmatives have easy angles to exploit vs substantive negative strategies. Neg teams are often awful at contesting the aff, so applying your theory and solvency explanation to different pages effectively should be an easy route to victory.
Topicality
1. “A decent amount of evidence with intent to define considerably improves your offense.
2. Caselists on both sides help.
3. I tend to care most about predictability” – Ruby Klein.
4. “The articulation of reasonability that will persuade me is that the substance crowdout generated by T debates outweighs the difference between the two interps” – Anirudh Prabhu.
5. In most circumstances, affs should utilize reasonability, functional limits, and arbitrariness as their 2AR strategy.
Counterplans
1. Well-researched strategies (especially PICs) will be rewarded. Topic/aff-specific advocates go a long way.
2. I will default to judge-kick unless told otherwise. Generally, I believe no judge-kick arguments should start in the 1AR at least if you want to win them.
3. I will default to the model that counterplans must compete functionally and textually, but I am willing to hear alternative models for competition.
4. Sufficiency framing is asserted without an implication in most instances. You should set a threshold for how much the CP needs to solve i.e. “1AC ev says we need to meet the 2 degree threshold – if the CP gets there it’s sufficient to solve and deficits do not matter past that”. Otherwise, this seems to be intuitive and just an assertion that serves as a poor substitute for impact calculus.
5. Presumption goes to least change.
Disads
1. “Turns the case” is important in some debates, but not others. It’s important to recognize when to prioritize it. The argument that war causes structural violence is intuitive and should not require too much explanation aside from explaining how it implicates framing. Turns case arguments at higher levels of the DA are more persuasive when applied to the aff’s internal links.
2. I generally care more about link defense than impact defense. Link framing is especially important because it can start argument resolution in your favor.
3. Smart analytic arguments are significantly under-utilized. Most politics scenarios, for example, can be logically disproven by a series of analytic arguments. But, the better the other team’s evidence is the more you’ll need of your own.
Case
1. Like everyone else, I like good case debating. 2Ns that show they know the aff better than the other team will especially be rewarded with higher speaks.
2. I will be very strict for the 2AC and 1AR on case. The 2AC needs to actually answer the 1NC case arguments not just re-explain your advantage. I will also be deeply skeptical of new 1AR/2AR arguments on the case especially if your explanation of the aff shifts.
3. Everything from the DA section apply just as much here.
Theory
1. I’m likely better for theory arguments than most because I evaluate them similarly to every other argument. But, if left to my own devices, I’m neg leaning on most questions.
2. “A creative perm debate is likely better and less life-denying, but I understand that theory is necessary to beat process CPs that steal the aff and cheat" - Ruby Klein.
3. I'm far better than the average judge for aff-specific PIKs. I think they're heavily underutilized and a personal favorite of mine. Defeating a strong aff theory argument is still difficult given significant aff pushback especially if the PIK was not explicitly one in the 1NC. However, I find these strategies are often most true to nuanced disagreements in the literature, so there is a strong pedagogical benefit to pursuing them.
Sam Church
samsdebateemail@gmail.com
Harvard ’27
LASA ‘23
I debated for four years on the national policy debate circuit in high school and competed for one, very long, year at Harvard.
Debate, ultimately, is only valuable if evaluated technically. I find myself frustrated when judges attempt to intervene with their own conceptions of "truth," or "argumentative quality." As such, I will disregard my preconceived notions to the best of my abilities when deciding a debate.
I don't want a card doc. Please refer to evidence by author name if you want me to go back through and find it.
I care less about cards and evidence quality than other people. Bad arguments can be beaten with short analytics. If a team can't adequately respond to an awful argument, then they don't deserve to beat it.
I do not care what arguments you read, thus my thoughts and predispositions are irrelevant. I will attempt to judge as technically as possible.
Here are people who have impacted me in debate if you're bored or don't trust me:
Yao Yao Chen | Chanden Climaco | David Kilpatrick | Eu Giampetruzzi | Arnav Kashyap | Kenji Aoki
I (used to) debate at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy (LASA) in Austin, Texas as a 2N. I also (used to) debate for Texas as a 2N (for one tournament).
Put me on the email chain: alexandreahuang@gmail.com
2024 update:
- Here for a fun time not a long time - take the shortest, easiest path to the ballot. I will reward you with higher speaks and W's.
- Don't know anything about the topic - explain acronyms pls
Do what you do best and I will judge it to the best of my ability. When I competed, I always believed the best decisions were rendered exclusively based on the words that came out of the debaters' mouths. I will try my best not to intervene unless it becomes an absolute necessity.
Stuff about me:
Neg leaning on most theory, but feel free to go for condo, my partner and I went for it pretty often.
Exclusively went for framework versus K affs.
Read some Ks on the negative, but my bread and butter are DAs and CPs.
I would rather you read re-highlightings than inserting them.
Good luck, have fun, stick to your (non-violent) guns!
Westwood '24.
The biggest regret I have to this day is giving up on debate. Don't give up, this activity is 3 dimensional chess, and it makes you so much smarter than you could even realize.
Put me on the chain -- its1gonbeoff@gmail.com
Top Level
Tech > Truth.
Do whatever, say whatever. I don't care.
https://opencaselist.com/hspolicy23/Westwood/JaPr
Anderson '25| TOC Quarterfinalist '24| He/Him
As a debater, I read both the Kritik and Policy. I feel comfortable evaluating any type of round, but clean debating will make your path to the ballot infinitely easier.
Policy and K debates are my favorite, but reading what you want and giving a good speech is much more likely to get higher speaks than trying to tailor what you read to what you think my ideological preferences are.
Tech > truth, but truth determines the extent tech matters. A blatantly false claim like "the sky is red" requires more warranting than a commonly accepted claim ie "the sky is blue".
Unwarranted arguments in the constructive that receive warrants later on justify "new" responses to those warrants. This doesn't mean I won't vote on tricks or theory, but the ability to say "X is conceded" relies on "X" having a full Claim/Warrant/Impact - the absence of crucial elements of an argument such as warrants will mean that adding them in later speeches will justify new responses. If an argument is introduced in a speech where no such response is valid, it carries little weight, for example: I am not going to think fairness categorically outweighs education if fairness outweighs is introduced in the 2AR.
I am willing to vote on anything as long as it does not make the round actively hostile or is racist/sexist/xenophobic/homophobic etc. I will only look at my flow when rendering a decision, meaning I look at words said in the round and will not do extraneous work to fill in gaps in terms of argumentation.
Fairness----------X---------Clash
Theory---------------X----Competition
Policy affs-------X---------Planless affs
Competing Interps--X-----------------Reasonability
Insert rehighlightings--X----------------No rehighlightings
Plan text in a vacuum----X---------------Positional competition