Baruti is not the first of the Great Mages to be attacked. 

He likes to be careful about his personal safety, but if he hadn't been able to discern an extremely concerning pattern, he wouldn't have known that it was important to convincingly pretend that the attack had succeeded. He supposes it's possible that one or more of the previous victims also had such preparations in place--but the odds that any of the first handful would have known to do so is slim. 

He isn't surprised when his precautions result in a misaiming of his teleport. 

What he doesn't understand is why, immediately after landing in front of a sign reading "MAGISTERIUS UNIVERSITY" he extremely, painfully, and through no magical mechanism he can perceive, dies anyway.