[sonofhans]

It is possible to get lucky with the original scramble. There are a couple ways to think about it. First, some pieces you care about in the early solve may be in place already (e.g., for a CFOP solve, some cross pieces may be in place), or nearly so. This will save you a move or two.

Secondly, sometimes the combination of the scramble and your early path through the solve creates future opportunities. Sometimes you’re lucky that a later step in the solve can be skipped. With a 10-second inspection time, no one can look this far ahead. With a world record hovering around 3 second, skipping one step that requires a 5-10 moves is a big deal.

The world record for the 2x2 is currently an eye-watering 0.49 seconds. 2x2 solvers use inspection time to plan the entire solve, something not possible with 3x3 and above. So that record 2x2 scramble was solvable in under a dozen moves; that’s good luck.