Hearthstoned!

Yay!

Of course, it's a practically free mount, so I had to get it, and I did!  If you haven't got one yet, there are a few things you can do to make winning a little easier.

1) Capture a hero you understand. Jaina Proudmoore is an awesome character to start with, but unless you can stack you deck to do massive damage ASAP, you should try something else.  All the heroes can be captured in practice mode, if you don't feel comfortable throwing yourself to the wolves, uh, I mean other players. Do you normally heal? Grab a priest. Do you like buffing others to do your job for you? Nab a paladin or a shaman. Do you like pulling out all the pets and standing back and watching the fun? Play with a hunter. Oh, and if you like bashing things and putting a little armor up, try a warrior. Sneaky types should try the rogue. Do you like doing all the things? Play a druid. Do you enjoy pain? You must try the warlock.

Many murlocs. Handle it!

Building a deck.

2) Build your own deck. Nothing says you have to play the cards they start you with. I'm having an obnoxiously good time with a shaman murloc deck. A friend of mine built a taunt deck for his wife to ease her way to gaining her steed.  Pick the cards that suit you best and try playing your own deck! In your collection is where you build your custom deck, and there is a search feature so you can turn the ocean of cards into the puddle you are looking for. I did a search for murloc to get my murloc deck, and taunt for all cards that taunt.  You can search for about anything, and there are tabs at the top of the collection screen to show only class based cards or general cards.

Gelbin and ETC playing nice.  Who knew?

3) Make it fun. Do you have a couple of dollars to spend? Buy a couple packs from the store.You don't have to spend anything to get cards, as you gain coins that can purchase packs as you play. I have yet to open a pack that had less than one rare in it. I bought a couple decks during beta for a few bucks and got a golden Gelbin Mekkatorque card, which is only sometimes useful, but always fun!  Did you go to Blizzcon 2013? Pull out your ETC card and rock out!

My attitude is expressed well with this emote.

4) Emote. There are several emotes you can use during a match. All can be helpful, some are polite, but can have other meanings. If someone is being annoying, you can squelch them by right clicking their hero's portrait. Say hello or remind someone they are playing by using the "Greetings" emote. Apologize for taking too long or before dealing a vicious blow by saying "Sorry". "Oops" can be said when you flub a move, or when someone does something silly on their side. "Well Played" is a good emote to use near the end, but beware of the almost dead warlock who brings out two Molten Giants and eats them with his Void Terror. If you don't have him dead in your next move chances are good you're a goner! Oh, and don't forget to threaten them, even if it's an empty threat.

5) Use Hearthhead. I didn't know much about this site when I started playing, and I am still really getting into it. If you already use WoWhead, you know how useful the site can be. You can build decks there, search for cards, and read what other players are doing, even look at decks they have built. There is great opportunity for learning at this site!

6) Watch a pro. I can't say it better than this article here, but I can add to it. WowCrendor is great for so many other reasons, and his Hearthstone videos are the same. He is funny and watching him play helps me understand the way cards play together. TotalBiscuit is also pretty fun to watch, even if his cards are a little out of a beginners league.

I hope this helps those of you still without this mount to get in a few winning matches soon! This is a must have mount, if only for the fact that it makes one more toward your next level mount collecting achievement.
Is the Hearthsteed my favorite mount? No, but it is high on the list. I'm still partial to my Cenarion Hippogryph and my Swift Zhevra. Still, this one won't be on the stabled list when they release the newest random mount calling spell soon™.

A mount to match her transmog!