Ades,+Alex

I debated for Gulliver in high school (2006-2010) and have judged a handful of tournaments since.

I don't have any explicit biases -- run what you're comfortable with and what you're best at.

However, I didn't really debate the K in high school, so I'm less experienced on that front. That being said, you wouldn't necessarily put yourself at a disadvantage by running a K in front of me. It just means you have to do two things:

1) Make sure the components of your K form a coherent and compelling whole -- I'm familiar with the philosophical literature that most Ks draw on, and that means I'm all too aware of how much violence the K does to the authors of your cards and their theories. I'm willing to bracket that for the purposes of a debate, but it does mean that I'm less likely to vote for you if you have an underdeveloped link and a freewheeling alt. The upshot: run a K you understand and can explain well and convincingly in the specific context delimited by the aff's plan and advantages. If you can do that, I have no problem voting for a K (which leads into the second point).

2) Tell me why I should vote for you -- I'm less familiar with the mechanics of the K, so you need to tell me how I'm supposed to weigh your impacts against theirs and how I'm supposed to evaluate the alt. This likely also means you should be articulating a vision of the role of the ballot. You can be winning the substance of the K but still lose the round if I'm unclear on this point. Again, this isn't an uphill battle. I'll vote for the K, you just need to tell me why. (This holds even more for K affs that don't defend a plan or defend a plan that isn't a policy option).

The same really goes for a more policy-oriented strat as well: you can lose with the best CP and net benefit if you just throw it out there and don't frame it and explain it properly. Despite the fact that my particular debate background means I'm more likely to grasp your argument, I'm not going to do the work for you. At most, it means I'll be better positioned to let you know where you went wrong.