Logos: Search a Million Cards

Search a large library of already-cut debate cards and reuse them in your prep.

Logos searches a library of more than a million debate cards that other debaters have already cut and published on OpenCaselist. It is a search engine over finished cards, not the web and not AI generation. You type a claim and get back real cards (tag, citation, and highlighted body) that real teams have read, ready to copy or save. Any signed-in account can use it; it is not a Pro feature.

When to use it

Logos and Evidence Finder both find evidence, but they pull from different places:

  • Logos searches cards that already exist. Best when the argument is common and someone has almost certainly cut it already: generic disadvantages, kritiks, "AT:" (answers-to) blocks, stock advantages. You get a finished, pre-highlighted card instantly, plus social proof of how many teams used it.
  • Evidence Finder runs a fresh web search and cuts a brand-new card. Best when you need current evidence, or something niche that nobody has cut.

The trade-off: Logos only contains what has been uploaded to OpenCaselist, and it is a snapshot rather than a live feed. If it is not in the library, switch to Evidence Finder.

The two search modes

A toggle at the top of the search switches between them:

  • Cards (the default): find individual cards by their claim or tagline.
  • Header / Block: find every team's block under a shared heading, like "AT: Cuba".

There is also a third, beta mode on the same toggle, Deep Search, covered below.

Deep Search (beta): describe an argument, not a keyword

The two modes above match the words you type. Deep Search is for when you know the argument but not the exact tagline: you describe it in plain English, like "I need a card saying deterrence prevents war," and it searches the corpus many ways at once and returns the cards that make that argument (even when they are worded differently), ranked with a one-line reason each. Reach for it when a keyword search comes back thin because the argument can be phrased a dozen ways. See Deep Search for the full guide.

Searching for cards

  1. Open Logos. It is in the Tools menu in the top nav on desktop, and a Logos tab in the bottom bar on mobile.
  2. Leave the mode on Cards and type a claim into the Search the corpus box, for example "plea bargaining coerces innocent defendants." As you type (three letters or more), a dropdown suggests real taglines from the library; use the arrow keys and Enter to pick one.
  3. Narrow it with filters. Above the results you can filter by Event (All, Policy, LD, PF) and Side (All, Aff, Neg). Filters apply instantly.
  4. Read the results. Each row shows the tag, the citation, and the school, team, and side. A blue "Cut by N teams" badge means several teams cut the same evidence, which is a useful signal that it is a strong card.
  5. Open one. Click a result to read the full card on the right (or full-screen on mobile). In the reader you can:
    • Cycle through versions if more than one team cut the same card, using the arrows next to the "{i} / {N} versions" pill, and pick whichever team's cut you like best.
    • Recolor the highlight (Yellow, Purple, Cyan, Green) before you copy.
    • Click Show related cards to see the whole block this card came from.
  6. Reuse it. Use Copy to put the formatted card on your clipboard (it pastes into Google Docs or Word looking exactly like the reader), Save to Library to keep it in your active topic, or the Source menu to open the original on OpenCaselist (Download .docx, the team page, or the cited article).

Searching for a whole block

  1. Switch the mode to Header / Block.
  2. Type a heading into the Search headings box, like "AT: Cap K" or "AT: Econ." This works for named headings, not bare structural labels like "1AC."
  3. Each result is one team's block under that heading, showing how many cards it contains.
  4. Click a block to open the pocket: every card filed under that heading in that team's document, in reading order. From there you can Copy all or Save to Library the entire block at once.

Two kinds of grouping (so the buttons make sense)

  • Versions (a cluster): the same card cut by different teams. This is the version pager in the reader.
  • Related cards (a block or pocket): different cards filed under the same heading in one team's document. This is what "Show related cards" and Header / Block mode open.

How current the library is

Logos refreshes on a weekly cycle: cards that teams publish to OpenCaselist are pulled in about once a week. The small caption under the search hero, "Community evidence ยท updates weekly," is the reminder that this is a regularly refreshed snapshot, not a one-time dump. It is still a snapshot rather than a live feed, so a card posted in the last day or two may not be in yet. When you need something brand new, use Evidence Finder.

Browse the newest cards

When the search box is empty in Cards mode, the landing offers a quiet "or browse the newest cards" link. Click it to list the most recently added cards with no query at all, newest first. It is a fast way to see what just landed for a topic. While you browse, the Side filter hides (it does not apply to a newest-first list) and the strip reads Newest first; click back to search to leave.

Filter by date (topic eras)

Next to the Event and Side filters in Cards mode there is a small date control. It windows results by when each card was cut, which lines up with topic eras, so you can pull just the cards from the current resolution instead of ones cut two topics ago. The options:

  • Any time (the default): no date limit.
  • This season: cards cut since the season began (debate seasons start August 1).
  • 3 months: cards cut in the last 90 days.
  • Custom: pick your own from and to dates.

The date filter applies instantly, the same as Event and Side. A card with no recorded cut date drops out while a date window is active.

Tips

  • Be specific. A two- or three-word query that names the exact argument returns fast and clean. A single broad word ("china," "inequality") makes the search scan the whole library and can take a few seconds.
  • Use the version pager. When a card was cut by many teams, flip through the versions; highlighting and underlining differ, and one team's cut is usually cleaner.
  • Sign into OpenCaselist in another tab if you want the Source menu links to work; they are authenticated OpenCaselist links.

Limits and cost

Logos is free and unmetered for any signed-in account. There is no daily or monthly search cap, and it does not require Pro. The only limit is an anti-abuse rate cap that a normal person never reaches.

Common problems

  • No results. Try a broader query or check spelling. If the argument is brand-new or very niche, it may not be in the library yet; use Evidence Finder instead.
  • A broad search feels slow. Single common words take a few seconds to scan a million cards. That is expected; the loading skeleton holds until it is done. A more specific query is much faster.
  • Header / Block search finds nothing. It only matches named headings (like "AT: Cuba"), not generic labels like "1AC" or "2NC."
  • The Source links do not open the document. You need to be signed into OpenCaselist in your browser first.