Results of final challenge - and the futility of it all

Yesterday, the final BDU-internal challenge for spots at the German Debating Championships (DDM) brought at last a final list of teams that will be going there. As a reminder: Richtershorn (Georg&Johannes), then on 6th place in the ranking table and therefore just outside of the BDU's 5 spots at DDM, had challenged Klarahöh (Patrick&Bastian, 1st), Amalienstraße (Dessi&Filip, 2nd), and Platz der Pariser Kommune (Matthias&Niels, 4th). Since Olli&Juliane had withdrawn from the challenge round for DDM, this was the last decisive debate for who would be filling the BDU's spots.

Based on the team's points accumulated throughout the last debating season, the individual team duels were decided by the following criteria:

Klarahöh v Amalienstraße: winner needs 2 out of 3 debates (2/3)
Klarahöh v Platz d. Pariser Kommune: the latter need 2 wins in a row (2/2)
Klarahöh v Richtershorn: 2/2
Amalienstraße v Platz d. Pariser Kommune: 2/3
Amalienstraße v Richtershorn: 2/2
Platz d. Pariser Kommune v Richtershorn: 2/3

The panel of adjudicators consisted of Hauke (chair), Farid, and John. For the first round, they chose the motion that "THW not consider alcohol or drug intoxication as mitigating circumstances in court decisions." The debate was close, and was finally called a gov sweep, leaving CG Klarahöh in 1st, OG Amalienstraße in 2nd, CO Platz d. Pariser Kommune in 3rd, and OO Richtershorn in 4th. At this point, Klarahöh had already won two of its duels, Amalienstraße one, guaranteeing both teams a spot at DDM.

For the second debate, the panel was extended by Juliane before presenting the motion that "THW prohibit alternative medical treatments that do not prove to have effects over regular placebos." In the end, Richtershorn's good case did not stand against Pariser Kommune's broad-depth opening opp line, putting the latter in 1st place and leaving Richterhorn in 3rd behind CG Amalienstraße, who swooshed by with sprucing up Richtershorn's case. Again, the debate was a close call for the adjudication panel, with only Klarahöh in closing opp being a clear case, as they gracefully betrayed teamplay for beautiful philosophical considerations of stuff that seemed only loosely connected to the rest of the debate.

Still, with this Richtershorn had also lost the last one of its challenges. Since it wouldn't have mattered, the remaining challenges between the remaining teams were not continued. The teams for the BDU's 5 spots are:

Klarahöh, Amalienstraße, Krumme Lanke, Platz d. Pariser Kommune, Kastanienallee!


To the delight of everyone, we just received a 6th spot at DDM this morning, rendering the fierce challenge of last night unnecessary. Richtershorn, you're in! Congrats to everyone!

In the meantime, we hope that all the tough debating in the challenge rounds will prove to be valuable preparation for the actual tournament in one week's time.