luck 

For those unfamiliar with the game Hearthstone, it is an online card game that peaked in popularity as an eSport when I was in high school.

At the height of my obsession, I was the 2nd highest ranked tournament player in the pacific region, and was often asked by others how to improve their gameplay. I'd often say that the game wasn't 100% skill based given how much RNG (random variance) many of the cards had. For example, a card like Piloted Shredder had the ability to summon another random monster card that could sometimes hugely swing the game in your favor. Not to mention there was inherent RNG associated with drawing a good opening hand. Even with so much uncontrollable variance, a high level Hearthstone player's skill was more accurately determined by how well they could manipulate their luck, setting themselves up for future plays by weighing risk to reward.

In many of the same ways, life is full of randomness. While much of what is gained in life is earned through honest work and dedication, we can't help but lust and lose sleep over the influence that luck could have in our lives and does have in the lives of those glorified in media and pop culture. Of course, some people have genuine lucky breaks. Their Dr. Boom perfectly clears the enemy's taunt minions. However, I think that many lucky individuals were actually skillful in engineering their capacity to be lucky. In other words, making the effort to plan and prepare to be in the right place at the right time.

"Luck is when preparation meets opportunity." - Seneca