What the title says; Backbiting Strike damages the user when it triggers toughness, even though the strike does no damage to the opponent in this scenario. Here's a battle log with the most relevant details bolded: BATTLE LOG: Scenario=MP Maztec Melee,Room=Razorfin vs Xayrn,RoomID=240873,Event=Action Phase Initiated BATTLE LOG: Scenario=MP Maztec Melee,Room=Razorfin vs Xayrn,RoomID=240873,Msg=The active player is now Xayrn BATTLE LOG: Player=Xayrn,Scenario=MP Maztec Melee,Room=Razorfin vs Xayrn,RoomID=240873,Event=PlayAction,Action=Backbiting Strike,Instigator=CHOP,Targets=Agrulbran stopTimer 0 541 startTimer 1 669 BATTLE LOG: Player=Xayrn,Scenario=MP Maztec Melee,Room=Razorfin vs Xayrn,RoomID=240873,Event=TriggerSucceed,Trigger=,TriggeringActor=Agrulbran,AffectedActors=,TriggerType=PreDamage,TriggerLocation=Hand BATTLE LOG: Scenario=MP Maztec Melee,Room=Razorfin vs Xayrn,RoomID=240873,Group=Agrulbran,Event=Discard,Card=Cloth Armor BATTLE LOG: Player=Xayrn,Scenario=MP Maztec Melee,Room=Razorfin vs Xayrn,RoomID=240873,Event=TriggerSucceed,Trigger=,TriggeringActor=Agrulbran,AffectedActors=,TriggerType=PreDamage,TriggerLocation=Hand BATTLE LOG: Scenario=MP Maztec Melee,Room=Razorfin vs Xayrn,RoomID=240873,Msg=Razorfin drew a card for Agrulbran BATTLE LOG: Scenario=MP Maztec Melee,Room=Razorfin vs Xayrn,RoomID=240873,Group=Agrulbran,Event=Discard,Card=Toughness BATTLE LOG: Scenario=MP Maztec Melee,Room=Razorfin vs Xayrn,RoomID=240873,Msg=Agrulbran took 0 damage BATTLE LOG: Player=Xayrn,Scenario=MP Maztec Melee,Room=Razorfin vs Xayrn,RoomID=240873,Event=TriggerSucceed,Trigger=Reliable Mail,TriggeringActor=CHOP,AffectedActors=,TriggerType=PreDamage,TriggerLocation=Hand BATTLE LOG: Scenario=MP Maztec Melee,Room=Razorfin vs Xayrn,RoomID=240873,Msg=CHOP took 1 damage BATTLE LOG: Scenario=MP Maztec Melee,Room=Razorfin vs Xayrn,RoomID=240873,Msg=Razorfin must play a Trait
That's what its suppose to do. (the attack goes through and toughness makes the enemy take no damage then the text triggers doing 3 damage to you)
I understand the confusion - the card is worded poorly, such that you would expect it not to deal 3 damage to you if the damage it would deal to the target is completely prevented (whether by Toughness, Nimbus, 2 Reliable Mails, etc.). Backbiting strike should probably just read "This Attack also deals 3 damage to you." and not refer to damage being dealt...
Except no self-damage will be dealt if the attack is blocked. This makes sense in context, but some cards are difficult to explain in the space available.
So then shouldn't the card just read, "Unless blocked, this card also does 3 slashing damage to you." I'm pretty sure this is even shorter than the current text, which is downright false if the card's current behavior is intended. EDIT: Since the opponent avoiding the attack with Jump Back, Dodge, or Reflexive Teleport probably also causes it to deal no damage to you, the text could just as easily be changed to "Unless dodged or blocked, this card also does 3 slashing damage to you."
It would be "Blocked or avoided", to include things like Dodge, Jump Back, and Reflexive Teleport which aren't actually blocks. The current "does damage" alludes to the card not being blocked or avoided, in which case it will do damage, although the damage may be absorbed by armor so the target character may not actually recieve any of the damage.
If a card is blocked, it is canceled and doesn't have it's effect including any secondary effects (the only potential exception to this is a card that affects multiple characters, but that doesn't come into play for Backbiting Strike). This is a universal rule for the game, so "unless blocked/avoided, etc." is completely unnecessary and as already noted could create even more confusion with things like Jump Back. Flaxative's suggestion probably is a better wording than what's on the card, but there is a difference between doing damage and taking damage. A successful attack (unblocked, not dodged, etc.) that has a damage element always does damage; however, the amount of damage done may not be the same as the amount taken. Thus a damage 4 attack does 4 damage, but if the target has Reliable Mail they only take 2 damage. Thus damage done = 4, damage taken = 2. If they have enough mail damage taken can be reduced to 0 (remember Toughness is armor, not a block). So in the case of Backbiting which speaks of doing damage it merely needs to be a successful attack for the secondary effect to kick in while something like Sparkling Cloth Armor triggers its secondary effect only on damage taken as clearly identified in its text.
I maintain that the blocked/avoided exception isn't implicit to the average individual and should be included in the card text. It may seem obvious to anyone intimately familiar with all of the game's mechanics how the card should and does work, but that simply isn't reflected by what the card currently reads. Similarly, as someone not completely familiar with such things, I had always expected Bungled Bolt to deal damage to the caster regardless of whether it is blocked/avoided until I read these replies. The fact that this isn't the case is also fairly unintuitive and warrants a similar text change in my opinion.
