Alas, rising lava isn't as simple as you think. Creating strategies to manipulate the way others think and respond in the game can become a very complex process. I've been fencing saber for awhile now, and at first, I thought about it a similar way that you think about rising lava. Once I reached a competitive level, I realized that some of the stuff going on in the minds of some of the highest levels of fencers (Mariel Zagunis, Tim Morehouse, Daryl Homer, Becca Ward, Ian Jones, Eliza Stone, etc) were truly remarkable. I've talked to some of the higher level people and asked them how they train their strategies and try to manipulate their opponents. While it seemed to be a simple, physical, straightforward game, I learned that it could be far more than that.
The same could be said about tennis, (real) wrestling, boxing, or any mainstream sport like (American) football. The same could be said about multiplayer RTS games and other games that involve strategies. Once you truly think about rising lava in a strategic, complex way, you begin to unlock the secret to being a good player, much like in everything else I've mentioned in this post so far.
Eating pizza is a method of staying alive... A competitive game is far more complex than that.
:3
forgive me.. had I known that you study the minds of master fencers, I would not have challenged your clan of elite push broom attack units
I take my broken reasoning back to my club of pizza enthusiasts