Our Story
From one voice channel to a community of over 700 people.
Return to the Game
The story of AoE Balkan begins by accident, on YouTube. Getafix spotted the announcement for Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition — a game he remembered well from his younger days, but had no idea there was still a thriving international scene around it.
While waiting for the new version to release, he installed the old game and returned to the campaigns. What started as nostalgia quickly turned into something else. Every match revealed a new layer: mechanics, strategies and decisions he had never been aware of before.
When Definitive Edition launched on November 14, 2019, it was clear this wasn't a short-lived return. New graphics, additional civilizations and a modernized feel preserved everything that made Age of Empires II recognizable, while opening the game to a new generation of players.
A Server for Two
The biggest problem at the start wasn't how to play, but who to play with.
Ranked matches with strangers couldn't replace what Getafix was actually looking for: planning together, coordinating strategies, trade, coordinated attacks and talking during matches.
He managed to convince one friend to play with him. They needed a way to talk during the game, so his friend suggested Discord. Getafix didn't even know what servers, channels or roles were at the time. He made the simplest thing possible — one voice channel, for two people.
The server that would become AoE Balkan was founded on February 11, 2020. Its first icon was a Petard. It was simply called Age of Empires DE.
They played almost every evening, against the AI. Soon two more people joined them through Steam. The first text channels were added, and people started staying on the server even when no one was playing. Discord stopped being a technical solution and became a place to hang out.
The Search for Balkan Players
After some time, a logical question arose: where is everyone else?
Players from former Yugoslav countries surely existed, but there was no single place connecting them. So Getafix started searching manually — filtering players by country on statistics websites, finding them on Steam and sending friend requests. Only after someone accepted would he send a short message: there's a small group of Balkan players hanging out on Discord.
Some days he sent over a hundred such messages. In parallel, he promoted the server daily on Discord community listings.
It was slow, persistent work. But people started coming.
People Who Shaped the Community
Among the first important arrivals was Madface, who came in April 2020. He was far more experienced than the rest of the group and immediately took on the role of mentor — explaining the game, playing with people and showing them how much depth Age of Empires truly has.
During 2020, Uux, Jašar, Harooooo, Tomo and Athenaeis joined — names that still carry the community today.
People arrived from nearly every country in the region, often in groups. Someone would discover the server and bring their entire crew. Players who had been playing separately for years finally had a shared home.
This is also when the Balkan Clan [BLKLN] was founded, the community's official in-game organization. Over time, the clan reached its maximum capacity of 200 members.
First Tournaments
When enough active players had gathered, it was time to compete.
The Balkan KO tournament was held on September 20, 2020. Ten players, 1v1 double-elimination, all in one day. Getafix designed the format, rules, registration, bracket and stream by himself. Gariccc won.
Just a month later came the Balkan Klan Tournament 2 with 15 players — and the first prize pool raised by the community itself. In December, the first 2v2 tournament was organized with nine teams.
Tournaments changed the nature of the community. AoE Balkan was no longer a group of people who happened to meet in the evening — there was now structure, competitive spirit and an appetite for bigger projects.
Beyond the Region
At the beginning of the year, the first real logo with the dragon was created — a symbol that remains to this day. A YouTube channel was opened, and the first saved broadcast was a showmatch against the Spanish clan CONQUIS. Matches no longer vanished after being played — they started being preserved.
In March, the Champions League 3v3 was launched: eight teams, 24 players, group stage and double-elimination finals. It was the first project that required coordinating players from different countries and time zones. Getafix and Madface ran it together.
Civil War
The concept was simple and brilliant: DauT and Balkan versus TaToH and CONQUIS. Professionals as captains, clan members assigned to teams by ELO categories. Players who had recently been playing against the AI were suddenly competing alongside top names in the scene.
DauT and Balkan's side won, but the result isn't what the event is remembered for. Over 25 people gathered in one Discord channel. They played, trash-talked and laughed, and the professionals immediately embraced the community's relaxed style. Both DauT and TaToH said they had a great time.
Civil War proved that AoE Balkan can reach the biggest names, organize a major event — and still remain what it is.
Balkan League
In October, the first Balkan League started: 28 players, everyone against everyone, 378 matches and a playoff that finished in January 2022. Uux built the league system and standings table, while Getafix, Uux and Madface shared the organizational work.
Our Own Identity
The official Twitch channel was opened, and the community received a professional visual identity — logo, graphics and overlays created to Getafix's vision.
Tournaments started breaking out of standard formats:
Rast civilizacija 2022
Each player represents one civilization, and the bracket progresses through ages: Round of 16 in Dark Age, Finals in Imperial. Concept and maps: Doc Maggie.
Balkan Ninja Tournament 2023
A tournament made exclusively for newer players up to ~1100 ELO, so they could compete against equals and be introduced to the rest of the community.
Balkan Battlefields 2023/24
40 players and a map pool of 25 original maps, each representing a real Balkan location: Plitvice Lakes, Bay of Kotor, Bled, Devil's Town, Neretva, Tara, Trakošćan and more.
From Balkan Ninja grew one of the community's core ideas: events aren't organized only for the best players. Every group of members deserves a chance to compete against equals.
Continuity
This period wasn't defined by a single big event, but the community didn't stop for a moment: showmatches, daily community games, broadcasts, coaching and socializing.
The main event of 2025 was Balkan Izazov — a classic 1v1 tournament with 32 players. Five years had passed since the first tournament with ten participants. Ceepki won.
That same year, Ceepki also built an internal 4v4 leaderboard with automatic team balancing, adding competitiveness to daily matches without losing the relaxed atmosphere.
Belgrade
The most important moment in the community's history wasn't a tournament.
AoE Balkan Meetup 2026 was held from February 20 to 22 in Belgrade and brought together over 30 people who had known each other exclusively through Discord for years. Computers were set up, a real LAN party was organized, and on the main day DauT came in person and played with the members. Getafix and Uux ran the livestream for those who couldn't attend.
Voices, personalities and inside jokes were already familiar to everyone — they were just in the same room for the first time.
The meetup proved what tournaments cannot: that relationships built over six years had become real friendships. The plan is for it to become an annual tradition, each year in a different city.
The Community Today
AoE Balkan today has over 700 members and a steady active core of around thirty people. The community is open to players from outside the region too — it doesn't matter where someone comes from as long as they love the game and fit in with the crew.
A new member doesn't just get an invite. Getafix tries to play at least a few games with everyone, and on the server they'll find six years' worth of collected guides, tips, recordings and analyses.
"Just be here and in two weeks you'll be twice the player you are now."
In practice, that usually turns out to be true. But people don't stay because of improvement. They stay for the atmosphere, the camaraderie and the game everyone loves. The same people can find themselves as teammates, opponents and co-casters in a single evening.
That's why AoE Balkan never became just another Discord server.
What Comes Next
The next big goal is real clan battles against other Age of Empires communities — 4v4 showmatches across multiple ELO categories, with carefully balanced teams, so the clan can be represented by players of all levels, not just the best. If the concept attracts interest, it could grow into an inter-clan league.
Beyond that: a stronger team structure, specialized administrators and moderators, more frequent events — the goal is for the community to almost always have at least one active project running.
It all started with one voice channel for two people who wanted to talk while playing against the AI. Six years later, the story continues.