New to Netrunner -- Question about Tags

By byeuji, in Android: Netrunner Rules Questions

Can a tag given by a corporation be used on the same turn it's given?

Specifically, I played against a Weyland corp who played Posted Bounty, assigned me a tag, and then dropped two back-to-back Scorched Earth cards.

Even if I'd had "I've Had Worse" be one of the first four cards I lost to the meat damage, and had a full grip when the cards were dropped, I'd still be dead.

I can't find any rules saying that a tag can't be used on the turn it's assigned, which means I don't even get an opportunity to remove the tag.

How can that be balanced? I feel like I'm missing something.

There is indeed no rule saying that tags can't be used the same turn you get them. Cards like Scorched Earth only require the runner BE tagged, it doesn't care about when it happened.

As for balance, honestly, I know it sucks to get taken by it, but it's not as unbalanced as it feels. You learn to play around it. Some examples:

If you had 5 cards in hand instead of 4 and one was I've had worse, you have an 80% chance of surviving.

If you have a single Plascrete Carapace on the table, you can survive double-Scorch.

I personally bring along a spare Sacrificial Clone (as he can also save me from Net Damage) but I have to dance around tags as he's a resource and so vulnerable to trashing. Saved my life a few times though.

Crash Space is a similar option to Sacrificial Clone.

You can also try running Decoys to avoid the tag in the first place.

Or recognizing that in order to do what he did takes a minimum of two turns to pull off--he had to Install-Advance-Advance and then leave the agenda on the table, up for grabs during your turn.

Plus in order to use Posted Bounty at all, does Bad Things to his overall agenda density since it's a 1-point agenda. He's probably running Hostile Takeovers as well, and the number of agenda cards goes up, leaving you with more overall opportunities to steal points.

Posted Bounty is risky in that it needs to stay on the board for a tuth, be double advanced, have two scorched in hand, and have 6 credits (8 including the double advance).

They have to be able to defend the Posted Bounty and defend Centrals (Vamp, Account Siphon, Leela, etc, etc). The runner can't have a decoy, or crash space, or plascrete in play. I've had worse is 5 cards in hand can avoid it. This is also assuming the runner only has a 5 card hand limit.

It has a pretty big set-up time and can be played around pretty easily as the move to set it up is telegraphed in advance. Experience will teach you how to avoid it.

Thanks for the ideas on this everyone. Guess the only answer is to play more!