Splinterlands has always stood apart from traditional trading card games by pushing innovation, ownership, and player-driven progression. With the introduction of Avatars and Exemplars, the game is taking one of its boldest steps yet — transforming players from invisible commanders behind the deck into living participants within the world itself. This update is not simply about improving visuals or adding customization. It represents a fundamental expansion of what it means to be a player in a trading card game. For the first time, identity, progression, creativity, and gameplay intersect in a way that feels deeply personal and long-term.
Avatars now serve as your identity across the entire Splinterlands ecosystem. Instead of static profile images, players create fully customizable RPG-style characters that represent them everywhere in the game—battles, profiles, guilds, leaderboards, and social spaces.
Players begin by selecting a bloodline, choosing between Humans, Elves, Orcs, and Dwarves, each available in both male and female forms. From there, customization expands into facial structure, hairstyles, expressions, outfits, accessories, backgrounds, frames, and visual effects. The system strikes an excellent balance by offering a strong set of foundational options while leaving room for rare, premium, and event-based customization to be earned or acquired over time.
External elements like clothing, backgrounds, frames, and badges can be changed freely at any time, encouraging experimentation and expression. Changing your avatar’s bloodline or core physical traits requires a special consumable item, ensuring that identity choices remain meaningful while still allowing flexibility.
To support this new level of personalization, Splinterlands introduces a dedicated Avatar Shop. This shop is designed as a living system that will expand over time, offering new cosmetic options tied to gameplay, events, and progression. The launch coincides with the Winterfest event, the first seasonal avatar celebration. Winterfest introduces limited-time cosmetics such as festive hats, ugly sweaters, and seasonal outfits that allow players to express holiday spirit directly through their avatars. These items are intentionally time-limited, reinforcing exclusivity and giving players a way to visually commemorate their participation in specific moments of Splinterlands history. This approach makes avatars feel dynamic rather than static—your appearance can evolve alongside the game itself.
Avatars and Exemplars are designed to grow with players, and Splinterlands has clearly prioritized flexibility without undermining commitment. Two new consumable items support this philosophy.The Polymorph Potion allows players to reselect their avatar’s bloodline and core physical traits while preserving all other progress. This ensures that early choices never become permanent regrets as new races, visuals, or personal preferences emerge over time.The Capacity Flux allows players to reset their Exemplar’s stats, refunding all spent points so they can be reallocated into a new build. Both items are craftable, tradeable, and available on the marketplace, reinforcing Splinterlands’ player-driven economy while encouraging experimentation and strategic evolution.
Badges add another powerful storytelling layer to avatars. Each avatar supports a fixed number of badge slots that allow players to showcase achievements before a single card is played.
From land ownership and Champion Point milestones to leaderboard ranks, account age, and community accomplishments, badges transform avatars into visual resumes. They immediately communicate experience, dedication, and legacy—something longtime Splinterlands players have long deserved.
If avatars define who you are, Exemplars allow you to become one of the cards.
For decades, trading card games have asked players to collect and play cards designed by someone else. Splinterlands changes that entirely. Exemplars are player-created cards built directly from your avatar, representing your identity, strategy, and progression as a playable unit.This is not a cosmetic skin or alternate art. An Exemplar is a fully functional, evolving Splinterlands card that you design, upgrade, and refine over time. For the first time, players are no longer just commanding cards—they are one.
Exemplars are intentionally excluded from ranked battles to preserve competitive integrity. Instead, they shine in environments designed for creativity and progression, including tournaments, challenges, future guild brawls, and upcoming single-player campaigns.
These formats give Exemplars room to evolve without disrupting balance, while opening the door for entirely new rule sets and gameplay experiences built around player-created cards.
Every player begins with a Level 1 Exemplar and progresses using Glint. Each level grants points that can be invested into stats such as Health, Speed, Armor, and Attacks, as well as mana cost adjustments and ability slots. Players can choose any basic element or Dragon, and Exemplars can unlock up to five ability slots. As Exemplars level up, visual progression naturally follows. Frames, rarity tiers, and foil styles evolve automatically, ensuring that visual prestige reflects time, effort, and commitment.
Avatars and Exemplars now replace traditional profile images throughout Splinterlands. They appear in battles, battle history, opponent screens, guild rosters, leaderboards, and player profiles. Dedicated Exemplar leaderboards will rank players by Exemplar level, creating a new long-term progression goal that rewards dedication rather than short-term performance.This system makes the entire game feel more alive. Players are no longer anonymous opponents—they are recognizable characters with visible stories.
Over and Out,
Referral
Thanks for sharing! - @underlock
