DISADVANTAGES
What is a Disadvantage?
 Disadvantages are offcase positions that the negative
advances to prove that the costs of the plan outweigh its
benefits
 Disads typically make a CAUSAL claim: Plan -> X -> Y ->
Bad
 Disads must outweigh the “residual case” to be a reason to
vote negative—you can “win” a disad and still lose the
debate
 Disads are often named after either the “link” or “impact”
(Environment, Turbine Construction, etc.)
Structure of a Disadvantage
 Disads have three main components
 External link: argument (card) that connects the affirmative
plan (or its effects) to the disadvantage
 Internal link(s): arguments (cards) that connect the external link
claim to the impact—can have multiple internal links
 Impact: negative effect produced by the plan… we are
obsessed with extinction
 Global nuclear war
 Extinction
 “No Value to Life”
Structure [cont’d]
 Each of these three components also includes AT LEAST an
implicit uniqueness claim—an argument that either the
causal connection (link) or consequence (impact) is not
occurring in the status quo
 Some folks also talk about “threshold” and “brink”—the
amount of ‘push’ we need to trigger a causal chain/how close
we are to triggering that chain
Why Use Disadvantages?
 Disads reward hard work—they are an argument on which
“being prepared” (having new uniqueness stories and
updated blocks) can earn you wins
 Disads provide a lot of argument diversity—even if the
range of disads on a particular topic is narrow, they can be
tweaked in a nearly infinite number of ways
 Disads are generally pretty intuitive, EXCEPT for the
terminal impact.
 Disads can interact with the case impact, and TURN IT
One Important Thing to Remember
 All disadvantages are LIES—if they were true, we would all
be dead. Be HAPPY about this—life is beautiful!
 This should not bother you—debate is about testing ideas
in a competitive format, and if the aff cannot defeat a bad
argument, that’s on them.
 “Truthyness” on a disad is most important at the level of the
external link—if you’re good on the link everything else can
fall into place
How to Answer a Disadvantage
 Have a STRATEGY for defeating the disad—you have three
basic options
 Link turn
 Impact turn
 Straight mitigation
 Both link and impact turn strategies should include mitigation
arguments EXCEPT under very specific circumstances
Link Turns
 A “link turn” denies one or more of the causal connections in
the disadvantage, arguing that the causal connection works
in the OPPOSITE direction
 Example: link says plan decreases hegemony, link turn says
plan increases hegemony
 A “link turn” is no better than a takeout UNLESS it is
combined with a “link uniqueness” claim
Impact Turns
 Impact turns claim that the “bad” of the disadvantage impact is
actually “good”
 Example: disad says plan causes nuclear war, and nuclear war is
bad—impact turn says nuclear war is good!
 Many people call lower-level internal link turns “impact turns”—
this is not entirely accurate, but is a widely accepted naming
practice
 Example: Disad says plan decreases hegemony, hegemony is
good—impact turns says hegemony is bad
 Disads can be “straight turned”—either reading ONLY unique link
turns or impact turns (NOT BOTH!!!!), forcing the other team to
go for the argument
Mitigation Arguments
 Link (both External and Internal)
 Link is not true
 Link is exaggerated
 Link is non-unique
 Impact
 Impact is not true
 Impact is exaggerated
 Impact is non-unique
 All causal claims can have their thresholds/brinks attacked
Strategic Considerations for Disads
 Number: you want to put pressure on the aff, but you do not
want to either spread yourself out or contradict yourself—
generally, 2-4 disads are plenty, and if you’re relatively
inexperienced, fewer is better than more
 Case: disads MUST be accompanied by case takeouts
and/or “turns the case” claims—it is almost impossible for
you to win otherwise
 Impacts: should be diverse, able to turn the case, and able
to OUTWEIGH the case—a disad that does not outweigh
the aff is pretty much worthless
 Types: disads should only minimally interact with one
another—otherwise, you can run into dangerous crossapplications… avoid duplication in link and impact claims
 Disads + Counterplans = Macaroni + Cheese: good alone,
excellent in combination
Oceans Disadvantages
Agenda Politics
Budget
 Deficit Spending Bad
 Tradeoff
Energy Prices / Tradeoffs
Environment DA
Federalism 
Midterm Elections