Well, not quite two, of course. There's also 'get more tartarians' game, diplomacy, 'be LA Rlyeh or Ermor' - this one is rather hard to do if you didnt pick Rlyeh or Ermor initially, of course...
And no, I dont think that 'rush neighbours' is that much more creative than 'clam like crazy'. Gem gens alone dont win the game, nor does rush. But two viable paths are better than one.