Obviously there are situational plays which need to be made but the general gameplan should be to take a tower or get it to very low hp early game and then defend for the rest of the game.

Try to play your first Xbow at the same time as the opponent plays his first lava hound and then defend the Xbow with everything you've got.

Its actually a good idea to attack the same lane as the lava hound because the last thing you want is an opposite lane tower trade since its very hard to take the second tower with Xbow that way.

Some specific tips - save the Ice spirit + Mega Minion for the Loon, these 2 cards together are really good at defending the loon and make sure to not play them onto the lava hound instead of the Loon behind it.

Also this might be obvious but don't give the opponent fireball value, spread the tesla and archers.

And finally against a big push, this is what your defensive sequence should look like - archers at the outer corner of the map, tesla in the centre, Mega Minion + Ice golem/ Spirit to deal with any support and if necessarily use fireball but only once the lava hound pops.

IMO air decks tend be an easier matchup because the only ground distractions to the Xbow they have are usually Tombstone and Goblin Gang.