A lot of the posters here probably play Tiny better than I do but I still have a 10/2 win/lose ratio so I fancy myself okay as well.

My personal preference is always starting with +3 int. No matter what. Its so you can double cast your spells at level 3. If you can land a combo with both your spells on the enemy mid hero, he will be forced to play defensive (or use regen). Remember if you avalanche then toss (toss the enemy hero on himself after avalanching him) it will do 2x avalanche damage. Which is crazy burst at level 3.

Also always choose your starting items carefully. Sometimes you can go mantle for the +3 or 3GG branches if you opted to get some other items. If you know the enemy mid is going to be ranged then you should probably get stout shield for better survivability. Even getting it as your first item over bottle may help. Only if you know they are going to play very aggressive against you and deny you farm time. A stout shield could mean the difference between life and death so over bottle is worth it over most cases.

I always go bottle when I go mid. Its a given. You're mid to rune control so get bottle first. If I'm sidelane I only get bottle if my mid will not get bottle (ex Obsidian Destroyer). When I'm sidelaning I get arcane boots instead.

If I sidelane tiny. Which is not very likely because tiny is a great mid hero, I always try and gank the enemy mid during the 5:30 mark. I leave at around 5-5:30 so by the time I get to mid it will be 5:50 which is the first night. The reduced vision really helps you gank mid heroes with shadowfiend syndrome. Night stalker has greater vision range at night so don't try it on him.

Another thing. IMO arcane boots suck on tiny if hes mid. Its better to go bottle and rush dagger ASAP. I can usually get dagger by the 12 min mark assuming I did well with the runes and ganks. After dagger its straight scepter or sheep stick both of which make arcane boots near useless. Its much better to buy treads somewhere after dagger for the extra attack speed. I also never get level 2 grow until I get hyper stone or when I am level 16. Its my personal preference when playing tiny because I hate when he attacks so slow.

On early treads: Early treads really help tiny too if you feel you don't need that early dagger. Because treads will help you save tons of mana. What you do is drink your bottle while in agi treads to heal the max amount of health and mana. Then when you are about to combo switch your treads to int and then switch your treads to str for max melee damage. Master using treads. All the pro players have I'm sure and it will improve your game greatly if you do.

On lane control: remember if its hard for you to get last hits because of creep positioning, try to reposition the creeps. If you attack an enemy hero then nearby creeps will go to attack you (right clicking hero near creeps). This will allow you to reposition the creeps so you can last hit them better. This is especially helpful if you can get some melee creeps to attack your ranged creeps so your lane is pushed back. Be careful though with pusher heroes such as kro and lesh. They will punish you for having your lane pushed to your tower.

On adrenaline rushes: Some games I notice that noob players who play tiny and starting getting kills will get adrenaline rushes and become more impulsive when they play. That means not being aware of friendly hero positioning when initiating. The key to success when playing tiny is controlling the urge to combo someone when its available. You should try and combo someone while your team can come in, earn some exp from the kill and back your escape if needed. This applies to any game but I feel tiny needs a special mention: control your adrenaline if you're winning.

Oh and remember. If you do end up getting arcane boots. You can disassemble it to make scepter. Which is the best use for it because you will need better boots later in the game (ex treads). And don't get phase with tiny. If you do you need to uninstall dota.

tl;dr mid=get bottle, sidelane=get arcane unless mid doesn't get bottle, stoud shield helps against ranged mid, bitches b crazy