[throwaway42968]

It's only an issue with EMV Fallback, which you'd probably not need if you have a backup card that is good. Basically if the chip or near-field antenna on your card fail, the fallback is to collect a magnetic stripe read. Properly-configured readers don't need the stripe read to complete a transaction.

[gorkish]

Properly configured merchants don't even need the payment terminal to complete a transaction. They should be able to key the card number if all else fails. I say corrupt your magstrip if it makes you feel better.