I've been hovering around the 171CR mark for a while.

No, please, stop it, thank you. Please, stop clapping. It's, I'm blushing, please *sit-down hand motions* thank you.

What's the secret to getting high CR? Well, there's diligent picking, that'll do it, but we'll chalk that one off for the moment.

The secret is to get lucky, and don't give up until you do so.

I'm not joking.

50% of the time (gross simplifications FTW) you'll be luckier than your opponent. 50% of the time you'll be less lucky.

If you don't always make it as difficult as possible for your opponent, even if you are getting diced, when the luck flips you'll not be in position to take advantage. So your view on the luck will feel skewed. I can chalk about half of my losses down to mistakes made. I can chalk a good quarter of my wins down to opponents simply giving up.

Giving up may not be as obvious as it sounds. Some coaches give up hope when the dice are against them, and start auto-playing. Block first, think later. Don't do things in sequence. Just hope the dice get better. I won a very recent game simply because my opponent just started making blocks without covering the ball properly - and double skulled. I was 1-0 up, then 2-0 due to the double skull at half time, and receiving in the 2nd. He'd flat out given up by this point, then the dice tilted massively to him. Had he not given up at 1-0, instead of it being 2-2 with 2 turns to go and me winning 3-2, it would have been 1-0 and half time, 1-2 with 2 turns to go and I'd have been in trouble.

Don't give up. Then get lucky. You can do it too.

Of course, sometimes you're just shit out of luck and have to enjoy it as best as you can when it happens!