Actually ad-homs rarely show up in competitive debate. Competitive debate has the norms that an unanswered argument is considered to be true, and that the winn

Actually ad-homs rarely show up in competitive debate. Competitive debate has the norms that an unanswered argument is considered to be true, and that the winner of the round is usually decided by a judge trained in argumentation. (most often a former debater or coach themselves) For competition dirtier tactics including making 'must answer or you lose' style arguments that take longer to answer than they do to make in order to generate a time advantage.