LD

Overview

LD is the philosopher's event. You debate moral and political values — justice, liberty, equality — using a framework (Value + Criterion) that tells the judge HOW to evaluate the round. Cases are dense, cross-ex is sharp, and the best LDers win by controlling the framework, not by piling on cards.

Standard NSDA LD round.

• •Aff Constructive (6 min)
• •Neg Cross-ex of Aff (3 min)
• •Neg Constructive (7 min) — case + line-by-line on Aff
• •Aff Cross-ex of Neg (3 min)
• •1st Aff Rebuttal (4 min) — must answer ALL Neg arguments
• •Neg Rebuttal (6 min) — extend, weigh, crystallize
• •2nd Aff Rebuttal (3 min) — final word, weigh everything
• •Prep time: 4 min each, used between speeches

An LD case is built once per topic and refined over weeks.

• •Pick a Value (the moral goal: justice, morality, autonomy).
• •Pick a Criterion (the test for the value: maximizing X, protecting Y).
• •Write 2 contentions that prove your side best achieves the criterion.
• •Pre-write framework answers: what if they win their criterion?
• •Build a 'weighing block': why your impacts outweigh under their framework too.

The skeleton of every LD case.

• •V — Value: the moral standard the round should be judged on.
• •C — Criterion: how we measure achievement of that value.
• •C — Contentions: arguments that prove you meet the criterion.
• •I — Impacts: the real-world stakes that flow from each contention.

• ✕Ignoring the framework debate and just trading impacts
• ✕Picking a value (justice) and a criterion (justice) — they need to be different
• ✕Running out of time in the 1AR — pre-time your rebuttals
• ✕Dropping a Neg argument in 1AR — extending it in 2AR is too late
• ✕Using policy-debate jargon (DA, CP, K) without explaining it

• →Framework drill: write 3 different V/C pairs for the same case.
• →1AR pressure: run a 4-min 1AR against 7 min of Neg arguments. Daily.
• →Voter drill: end every practice with a 60-second 'voters' speech.
• →Cross-ex tagging: in CX, get the opponent to commit to a definition you can use later.

Sample prompts