Block Builder

Prep your defense: build blocks of responses to the arguments you expect to face.

Block Builder preps your defense. You tell it an argument you expect the other team to run, and it walks you from a strategy chat through finding evidence, cutting it, and assembling a finished block: a file of layered responses you can read straight off the flow. It is a guided, multi-step workflow, and it is best on a laptop because of its side-by-side panels.

A "block" is a pre-written set of answers to one argument. "A2" means "answers to."

When to use it

Use Block Builder when you want to walk into a round already holding responses to the case or arguments you expect. You pick the side you are answering, describe the opponent's argument, and end with an evidence-backed block. It is not for writing your own case; it builds the answers to someone else's.

Getting started

  • You need an active topic selected. Block Builder uses it to set the resolution and format. Start building a new argument by clicking the + New argument button in the left sidebar, or click an existing argument in the sidebar to resume it.
  • The header holds your topic dropdown (switch topics, or create a new one inline), and an Aff/Neg toggle to switch sides.

Your sidebar shows all in-progress arguments for the active topic. Click any row to switch to it and resume working. Completed arguments move to your Library. Search and cut operations you start continue running even if you switch to a different argument or leave Block Builder entirely; come back anytime and everything finished will be there.

The steps

Block Builder moves through four steps, shown across the top:

  1. Brainstorm. Chat with the AI block strategist. On your first message, the app creates the block. Tell it the argument you want to answer (you can paste the opponent's text), and it proposes a layered outline of responses. When you like it, click Use This Outline.
  2. Gather. Each line of your outline gets its own evidence hunt, with two tabs to find it. Web Evidence runs a fresh web search for that line (powered by Evidence Finder). Community Blocks searches the pre-cut cards other debaters have published to OpenCaselist, the same library Logos indexes; open a pocket, read the cards inside, and add any of them straight onto the line. Community cards are already cut, so adding one skips the Cut Cards step and does not spend a card cut. You can skip lines you do not need, and check the sources you want for each line.
  3. Cut. The app cuts a card for each source you picked and saves it. If a source is blocked or paywalled, paste its text in to cut it anyway, or skip it. Select and adjust each card as it finishes; searches and cuts keep running in the background.
  4. Assemble. Your finished block, line by line, in an editor. Reorder lines, edit any card, then copy it out.

What the brainstorm gives you

The strategist does not just list generic responses; it builds a layered block using the real categories debaters use:

  • Offense (reasons to vote for you): turns, link turns, and impact turns.
  • Terminal defense (kills the argument if you win it): delinks, non-uniques, and takeouts.
  • Non-terminal defense (weakens it): mitigations, alternate causality, and "no impact" arguments.
  • Framing: overviews and analytic (logic-only) arguments.

The brainstorm is grounded, not guessing from memory alone. As it proposes responses, it can search the community-block library (the same already-cut cards Logos indexes) with a built-in tool, so it can point you at answers other teams have already published. When it searches, a row of chips appears under its reply, one per block it found, showing the heading, how many cards the block holds, and the school that cut it. Expand a chip to read the real formatted cards, use Copy to grab the whole block, or click Open in Gather to jump straight to that search in the Gather step. A muted line above the chips shows exactly what it searched for (and which side), so you can tell whether it looked in the right place.

It can also research the open web, but only when you ask it to in the chat. That spends one of your Evidence Finder searches, so it will not do it on its own. Treat the brainstorm as strategy plus a first pass at sourcing, then use the Gather step to finish cutting.

Improve Card (Recut)

In both the Cut and Assemble steps, you can refine how any card looks without changing its words. Select text in a card and choose Highlight less, Highlight more, Retag, or enter a custom instruction like "make this more concise" or "emphasize the data." The AI reworks only formatting and highlighting; it never adds, deletes, or rewrites card text. Server-side guards prevent text changes, so you always get back exactly your source words, just formatted differently.

Where your block goes

  • The finished block is saved under your topic in the Library, in the Blocks tab. You can reopen it later to keep working.
  • Each card it cuts is also saved to your Evidence Library, tagged with the block's title.
  • Copy All Cards puts the whole block on your clipboard, formatted for Word or Verbatim with highlighting intact.
  • Generate Speech sends the block into Speechify in Blocks (rebuttal) mode.

Limits and cost

  • Free: 2 blocks, total (a lifetime trial). Pro: 10 blocks per month.
  • The block is counted when you click Start, not when you finish. If you start one and abandon it, that block is still used. Start one when you are ready to build it.
  • Cutting cards inside a block still uses your card cuts. The Cut Cards step goes through the normal card-cutting engine, so it counts against your daily cut limit (5 a day on free). A free user can start a block but run out of daily cuts partway through.

See Plans & Limits for the full picture.

Tips

  • Build on a laptop. The Brainstorm outline panel and the Evidence and Cut steps use multi-panel layouts that are cramped on a phone.
  • Paste the real argument. In Brainstorm, paste the opponent's actual card or contention text. The more specific you are about what you are answering, the better the responses.

Known limitations

  • Assemble edits do not yet persist after navigation. Changes you make to cards in the Assemble step (text edits or Improve Card refinements) are not saved if you navigate away. The Improve Card feature and card reodering are here; persistence is coming.

Common problems

  • No topic selected. Pick a topic from the switcher first; this appears in the header once you open Block Builder.
  • A source could not be cut. Paste its text into the box that appears, or skip it. You can assemble the block with the cards that did work.
  • You used your free block. Free includes one block to try; Pro raises it to 5 a month.