Masterson,+Michael

Background I'm in my third year of debating for OU. I debated for Jenks High School for four years.

Topicality I'm willing to vote on topicality if the negative wins it. If you go for topicality then it should be your entire 2NR. I haven't judged a lot of rounds on the topic this year so make sure to explain your interpretation and violation clearly.

Framework I'm willing to vote on framework. I don't think you have to win a topical version of the aff but it usually helps. The main problem I see when teams run framework is that they often do not respond to the aff's criticism of framework directly. Whichever team does the best job contextualizing their offense with the offense of the other team will usually come out ahead in a framework debate in front of me.

Theory I generally have a pretty high threshold for voting on theory and you will almost certainly need an interpretation and win that competing interpretations is good to win my ballot. Don't go full speed reading your theory blocks or I won't be able to catch all of your arguments.

Counter Plans If it is competitive and has a net benefit it is probably fine. If it is a CP that competes over something really small like a process CP, I tend to lean aff on questions of competition, but that doesn't mean those debates are not winnable in front of me for the negative. Slow down somewhat in the 1NC when you read your counterplan text, especially if it is more complicated than have x actor do the plan or do the plan without x.

Disads I think the negative should generally try to win that the disad turns and outweighs the case. I find that teams often choose to go for the politics disad in the 2NR even though they might have a better topic specific disad just because they are used to going for politics. Still I'm willing to vote for whatever disad you choose to go for if you win it.

Kritics Most of my strategies in college have been kritics, but I'm not sure if that makes me more or less K friendly as a judge. I am fairly well versed in most of the literature, but I still want you to explain your argument. I generally think it is more strategic for standard policy affirmatives to impact turn most kritics rather than link turn. The more specifically each team can apply their arguments on the k flow the better.

Case Debates The negative usually needs some way to mitigate the affirmative's offense in order to win, and if that is not a counter-plan or a kritic then it has to happen on the case. I think solvency and advantage answers/turns are generally the most effective case arguments. It is almost impossible to win zero risk of the affirmative so make sure you extend some offence in the 2NR. I probably won't vote on inherency unless the negative can demonstrate that the affirmative plan has literally already been done. However, many arguments that are generally placed in the inherency category are actually uniqueness take outs to advantages which are effective as defense in front of me. I'm not impressed with arguments such as "this card says maybe solve, not will solve."

General Comments I prefer good analysis to an unexplained card. I generally don't like to call for evidence after the round and will not do so unless I can't settle the debate based on what was argued in the round. Specificity and explaining your argument in the context of what the other team says is almost always good. Speed is fine but be clear. Don't read into your computer, place it at an angle so I can hear what you are saying. Sitting while you speak won't affect my decision but it will lower your speaker points.