Strategy games are taking many different shapes and most of them certainly don’t look anything like the chess and checkers of old. They fall loosely into three different categories; Real Time Strategy (RTS), Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) and Card.

RTS

Blizzard’s StarCraft has dominated the RTS category since its introduction in 1998, garnering a passionate following that plays both recreationally and professionally. With the introduction of StarCraft 2 in 2010 Blizzard created a framework for league play that fostered a competitive environment that led to StarCraft becoming a premier e-sport. With tournament prizes rising to the millions, StarCraft is the RTS to play.

MOBA

This relatively new genre was created when Defense of the Ancients module for Blizzard’s Warcraft 3 was introduced. Two teams of players battle against each other on a closed with the objective of destroying the other teams base using controllable characters with unique skills. League of Legends, Defence of the Ancients 2 and Dawngate are notable entries and are very popular right now.

Card

Magic the gathering is the original card strategy game, but recent entries have adopted the same basic idea and improved upon it. The most popular currently is Hearthstone produced by blizzard. Magic the gather also has a fervent following and the upcoming Hex: Shards of Fate is set to make substantial waves.