What a Power Move Is on The League

A Power Move lets you skip to the front of another member's queue, so you show up in her very next Batch instead of waiting days or weeks for your turn. You can send it anonymously, or remove the anonymity and add a message to go with it.

Normally you wait your turn in her queue, and that wait can run to days or weeks. A Power Move takes you out of that wait for one specific person and puts you in her next Batch.

That is all it changes. It moves you up the line. It does not make her like you, and it does not tell The League to match you. She still sees you and still decides, just as she would have days later.

So think of a Power Move as buying early attention from one woman. Whether that attention is worth anything depends on what she sees when you arrive.

You have two ways to send it.

Sent anonymously, it simply jumps the line. She sees you sooner, with nothing to say you pushed your way to the front.

With the anonymity removed, you can add a note. Now she knows you picked her out, and she has your words to react to as well as your photos.

The note is usually the better choice. If you are going to spend something to get in front of her, you may as well give her something to answer. A good note works like a first message that reaches her before the match, and it gives her a reason to say yes.

The League gives you three routes. You can buy a Power Move on its own. You can pay with League Tickets, the app's in-app currency, and the ticket price covers a note as well. Or you can get Power Moves as part of certain membership tiers.

Check the cost in the app before you buy, because prices change. If you already have tickets from endorsing a friend, a Power Move is one of the cheaper things they cover.

A Power Move is a small, deliberate bet on one person. Spend it like one.

The right target is a woman you would be genuinely pleased to take for a drink this week, whose page gives you something specific to write about. The wrong target is anyone who looks fine on a slow evening. Spread across ten ordinary women, Power Moves turn into an expensive way to be seen by people you did not much care about.

a dating coach talks about roses and super likes on other apps in the same breath, and his view of all of them applies here. They bring your interest to her attention and raise the odds that she at least sees you. That helps most with women who would otherwise be hard to reach.

The cost is that you have shown your hand. You liked her enough to pay, and she knows it. My answer is not to avoid these tools. It is to play better afterward. When you have given away a little power, your note and every message after it need to be relaxed and light, with nothing in them that sounds like you are waiting for her approval.

Treat the note as a first message, with the same rules.

Pick one specific thing she chose to show, preferably something she wrote rather than a photo of her face. Keep it to a line or two. Make it light, a little playful, and about whether you two would get along. My best first messages all work this way. They are short, a bit witty and personal to her, and they put him in the position of the one deciding whether she is his type.

A compliment on her smile does none of that. A one-line tease about the thing she clearly cares about most does all of it.

If the Power Move works, you now have a match with a woman you chose on purpose. Do not waste it by going quiet.

Answer her the same day, and build on whatever she said about your note. As soon as she is plainly having fun, propose a drink on a named night and swap numbers. The Power Move bought you a place at the front of the line. What you say next decides whether it paid for itself.