I'm quite lucky, because not winning is normally not a problem for me, although I did tie once, that was a little dicey for a while.
Light transplants aren't too bad for the most part. You may find it easier to begin with to totally smooth out the original lights before pasting new lights on, not only does it help with not having bits uncovered, but it also clarifies the shape that you are pasting onto. Because they are not usually being pasted onto a flat surface, you may find the need to warp or distort the pasted lights to get them to look right, then just blend in as normal.
Light transplants aren't too bad for the most part. You may find it easier to begin with to totally smooth out the original lights before pasting new lights on, not only does it help with not having bits uncovered, but it also clarifies the shape that you are pasting onto. Because they are not usually being pasted onto a flat surface, you may find the need to warp or distort the pasted lights to get them to look right, then just blend in as normal.