Is it a
"When a Device is dealt damage, if it is the first time that Device has been dealt damage this turn, this card deals..."
or is it a
"When a Device is dealt damage, if it is the first time any Device has been dealt damage this turn, this card deals..."
?
I'm guessing the latter, because otherwise some villains can really incinerate themselves.
The latter and thats how the video game has it implemented. Each Backlash Generator will only trigger one time and then no more until the next turn.
So, I guess the difference is “any” instead of “a”.
The word “any” was used to try to make it clearer to players how this was supposed to work because the word “a” has been used very inconsistently in the past in Sentinels. Provockitor Tarnis in Kaagra’s deck and wrong time and place in Setback’s have virtually identical wording but work differently based on different definitions of the word “a”.
And honestly, to me, I'd still be unclear if it wasn't for the mobile game.
Exactly what I was thinking. Just throw a Combat Stance on there for good measure!
Backlash Generator is even worse, because you have targets dealing damage and then you have Devices to keep track of!
Maybe we should construct a table of them all and which way they work...