Your Identity, Brought to Life in Splinterlands
Today we’re excited to announce AVATARS and EXEMPLARS — a major new system coming to Splinterlands that redefines how players represent themselves and participate in the game.
This isn’t just a visual update.
It’s a fundamental expansion of what it means to be a player in a trading card game.
🎨 AVATARS: Build Who You Are
AVATARS are your identity across the entire Splinterlands ecosystem.
Instead of static profile images, players will create a fully customizable avatar using an RPG-style character system. You’ll be able to define everything from:
- Character and race
- Physical features (hair, facial features, and more)
- Clothing and accessories
- Backgrounds
- Frames and visual effects
Players will begin with a curated set of options, with additional, rarer, and premium customization unlockable through gameplay and future content.
External elements such as clothing, accessories, backgrounds, frames, and badges can be changed freely at any time.
Changing your avatar’s race or core physical traits will require a craftable and tradeable consumable item.
🛍️ Avatar Customization & the New Avatar Shop
Personalization in Splinterlands is going deeper than ever.
AVATARS are supported by a brand-new Avatar Shop, giving players access to a growing library of visual customization options — from foundational identity choices to premium cosmetic upgrades.
Bloodlines & Races
Players will be able to choose from multiple fantasy races, each available in male and female variations, including:
- Humans
- Elves
- Orcs
- Dwarves
This is just the beginning — many more races and bloodlines will be added over time.
🎄 Winterfest Event!
The Avatar Shop is kicking off with Winterfest, our first seasonal avatar event — and it’s bringing some festive flair to Splinterlands.
Limited-time Winterfest cosmetics are arriving, including:
- A festive ugly sweater for maximum holiday spirit
- Special Winterfest hats to complete the look
- Additional seasonal outfits and accessories
These items are available for a limited time only, making Winterfest your chance to personalize your AVATAR with exclusive, event-themed style you won’t see year-round.
This is just the start of seasonal and event-based customization — and Winterfest is the first of many moments where your AVATAR can celebrate the world of Splinterlands.
🧪 Potions & Reconfiguration Items
AVATARS and EXEMPLARS are designed to grow with you — and that includes the ability to make meaningful changes over time.
Two new consumable items will support customization and experimentation:
Polymorph Potion
Allows players to reselect their AVATAR’s bloodline and core physical traits. This lets you change who your AVATAR is, while keeping all other progress intact.
Capacity Flux
Allows players to reset their EXEMPLAR’s stats, refunding all spent points so they can be reallocated in a new way. This makes it possible to experiment with different builds without permanent commitment.
Both items:
- Are craftable
- Are tradeable
- Can be acquired via the marketplace
These items ensure that AVATARS and EXEMPLARS remain flexible, future-proof, and player-friendly as new content, strategies, and options are introduced.
🛡️ Badges: Show What You’ve Earned
AVATARS support a fixed number of badge slots, allowing players to showcase their achievements at a glance.
Examples include:
- Land titles
- Champion Point milestones
- Year joined Splinterlands
- Highest leaderboard rank achieved
- Discord achievements (Card Collector, Land Baron, Shard Holder)
Your AVATAR tells your story before a single card is played.
EXEMPLARS: A First for Trading Card Games
AVATARS define who you are.
EXEMPLARS let you become a card.
For decades, trading card games have asked players to collect and play with cards designed by someone else.
Splinterlands is changing that.
EXEMPLARS give players the unprecedented ability to create, customize, upgrade, and play their own card — a living, evolving Splinterlands card built directly from their AVATAR.
This isn’t a skin.
This isn’t a cosmetic variant.
This is you, entering the game as a real card.
⚔️ Play Your Card. Not Someone Else’s.
Every TCG player has imagined it:
- What would my own card look like?
- What stats would I choose?
- What abilities would define my playstyle?
With EXEMPLARS, that fantasy becomes reality.
Players decide how their EXEMPLAR grows — from Element selection, to stat allocation, to ability choices — creating a card that reflects their strategy, their history, and their commitment to the game.
No two EXEMPLARS will be the same.
This isn’t about borrowing power.
This is about earning it.
For the first time in a competitive card game, players don’t just command cards…
They are one.
🧩 Where EXEMPLARS Enter the Battlefield
EXEMPLARS will not be playable in ranked battle formats.
Exemplars can be enabled in tournaments and challenges, and are planned to be able to be used in the next iteration of guild brawls as well as in some future single player campaigns.
These environments give EXEMPLARS the room they need to shine — spaces designed specifically for player-created cards, experimentation, and long-term progression.
EXEMPLARS are built for new formats, new rulesets, and entirely new kinds of gameplay, all centered around the idea that the player is no longer just behind the deck — they’re part of it.
We’re excited to work closely with the community as this project evolves and to expand on what EXEMPLARS can become over time.
📈 EXEMPLAR Progression, Stats & Abilities
Every player begins with a Level 1 EXEMPLAR and progresses over time.
- EXEMPLARS are leveled using Glint
- Each level grants points that can be spent on:
- Stats (Health, Speed, Armor, Attacks)
- Mana cost adjustments
- Ability slots and abilities
- Players choose any basic Element or Dragon
- EXEMPLARS can unlock up to five ability slots
Players will also be able to reconfigure their stats later using a separate craftable, tradeable consumable, encouraging experimentation without permanent mistakes.
✨ Visual Progression & Prestige
As your EXEMPLAR levels up, both the card and AVATAR frame automatically progress through:
- Rarity tiers
- Frame upgrades
- Foil tiers
From early wood frames to legendary and special frames, visual prestige reflects commitment and progression, not luck.
🖥️ AVATARS & EXEMPLARS Across the Game
AVATARS and EXEMPLARS will replace the current circular avatar throughout Splinterlands, including:
- Battles and battle history
- Opponent and results screens
- Guild rosters
- Leaderboards
- Player profiles
Player profiles will showcase full AVATARS and EXEMPLARS, letting players explore each other’s builds, visuals, and achievements.
A new EXEMPLAR leaderboard will rank players by EXEMPLAR level, giving everyone a powerful long-term goal to chase.
🚀 What’s Next?
This is just the beginning.
Upcoming releases will dive deeper into:
- Avatar creation and UI previews
- EXEMPLAR campaign integration
- Tournaments, challenges, and future modes
- Progression, balance, and long-term plans
First, you create your AVATAR.
Then, you bring it to life as an EXEMPLAR.
Welcome to the next evolution of Splinterlands.