How to NOT LOSE a Hearthstone Game

The basic deck is prepared and your first player vs. player is match at hand. You feel a little anxious not because you are nervous, but because you are excited at the idea of finally going up against another player.  Thinking that the tutorials have prepared you for the real thing, you go ahead and follow the strategy that helped you defeat all A.I. heroes. However, as the games goes on, you take more and more damage while only dealing minimal damage to the opponent. The game ends with the loud cry of your hero and the shattering of its image into a thousand pieces. You look back, reviewing your moves and asking yourself "where did I go wrong?" All newbie players go through a learning curve and part of this process is losing. I had to go through the same thing and in retrospect, here are some of the things I will do in order not to lose a Hearthstone game.
Replace Initial DrawWhen I was new to Hearthstone, I never bothered replacing the cards I initially drew. As long as the draw gave me strong minions or powerful spells, I did not use the replace option. Unfortunately, the high casting cost of powerful cards was detrimental in the early goings of the game. I would be usually happy drawing a seven to cast Flamestrike or five to cast Gurubashi Berserker, but I would have trouble playing these cards because the opponent was already set up with several minions on the board and that kept me on the defensive mindset. Before I had enough mana to use Flamestrike and obliterate the opponent's cheap minions, my health was already close to or below half. Nowadays, I would always use the replace option to prepare for my opponent's early onslaught.
Creative PlaysAs I progressed in this season's ranked play, I would credit averting losses to creative and unconventional plays.  These plays are moves that the opponent wouldn't expect, opening a window to deal significant damage.  For example, my opponent and I were both down to 8 health. He had a 6/6 Stormwind Champion, and I had a 2/7 Gurubashi Berserker with the skill of gaining +3 attack whenever it was damaged. Since my minion was not much of a threat at that point, the opponent opted to attack my hero, bringing my health down to a precarious couple of points. Drawing a 1/1 Elven Archer with a Battlecry of dealing 1 damage at the start of my turn, I casted that minion. Instead of targeting the enemy hero, I decided to deal the damage to my Gurbashi Beserker, increasing its attack to 5. Using Jaina's Fireblast, I dealt another 1 damage to my minion which brought up its attack to 8, enough to wipe the smug off of my opponent's face. These unexpected plays deal a lot of damage to the enemy hero and most of the time, it's the difference between winning and losing.
Prepare for the WorstAnother thing that kept me from losing was the idea of always preparing for the worst. Before, I would use spells like Polymorph that transforms a minion to a 1/1 sheep or Arcanite Reaper, a 5/2 weapon, to neutralize semi-powerful minions like Chillwind Yeti early in the game. I was so wrong. Opponents are smart enough to cast powerful minions when threats from spells or other minions are minimal. So using neutralizing spells early is a waste. I had my share of being shocked with minions such as the 8/8 Sea Giant and the 8/8 Ironbark Protector late in the game, and I had so much trouble cleaning out these minions that I ended up losing the game. So now, I save my neutralizing spells for unusually powerful minions. Preparing for the worst not only saves me from a ton of damage, but it also kills my opponent's morale.
ConclusionLosing can be quite frustrating at first but it is through those losses that I was able to find ways to win. But if I had to go through it again, I will start the game using the replace draw option, find creative ways to deal damage, and prepare for the opponent's worst.