Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25926288-20170429134340/@comment-24276151-20170507002919

I'll see if I can cover everyone's thoughts with this post.

I do not believe that Regina's Dark Magic is stronger than Mal's.

I believe her Light Magic certainly is, since she took out enhanced Zelena effortlessly - literally 1-shot.

Regina may have beaten monsters before but she has never ever beaten a dragon. Can't confirm that she is able to untill we see it.

Maleficent wasn't fighting Regina. Regina was doing all the attacking, Mal didn't even try because she still liked Regina and didn't want to kill her.

I agree that Rumple says the Zelena is the most powerful he's met (because her pendant strongly enhances her magic which is already dangerous on its own) so she'd be considered above all other witches including Mal's human form (again we cannot claim her dragon form to be better or worse)

Every single fight Mal has, she's at a disadvantage.

Fight with Regina (Human): Already explained it before.

Fight with Charming (Dragon): He didn't defeat her, he dropped a golden egg-potion down her gill (ouch) plus she was toying with him.

Fight with Emma (Dragon): Perfect sword throw, that sword may or may not have been enhanced in the past, plus she was a huge target and I'm pretty sure that sword could kill anyone (if it actually hit them) who isn't immortal.

Snow and Charming (Dragon): They steal her egg when she's asleep and hold it hostage - if she torched them she would have risked killing her child. She also fired at them and aimed too high but this is obviously because she was worried about breaking the egg. Also she had just given birth and was weak.

Ursula (Human): She was kinda just standing there holding her staff to block the tentacles. Lazy.

Chernabog (Human): Chernabog can't be killed. (Crossing the Town Line dissolved him, literally the only way to stop him)

Choked by Rumple (Human): He caught her off-guard, plus he's a Dark One and is stronger than anyone who isn't Merlin, Fiona, or the Gods.

The one time she dropped Regina wasn't a fight, she caught Regina off guard when she tried to explain.

Regina cast a barrier to keep Gold out, but it's not that Mal needed the protection, it's that the heart needed it.

Cruella (Dragon): She was dumb and got too angry and didn't think straight (but Cruella was even dumber for not getting Dragon Mal to bodyguard her).

(end of fights)

Cora used Mal's spellbook to learn more magic, just adding that in.

This is only my opinion and in no way solidified fact but I say her dark magic, firebending, forest burning, dragon power, sleeping curse feats puts her around Cora's level. I want to say that she's superior to Cora because of her above feats but Rumple did say "(Zelena) is even stronger than you (Cora)" - he said "even" implying that she was on top at first. Yes, Cora cast a barrier that Mal couldn't but she had some wierd stick MacGuffin that she only used once for this sole purpose and never used it again, so it's less her own magic than it is finding something that helps.

Final thoughts are that Human Mal, Cora, and Zelena (unenhanced) are around the same and probably above Dark Magic Regina, although I truly apologize if I am lowballing Regina and feel free to point out if I am.

Enhanced Zelena is superior to Mal and Cora but I personally think Dragon Mal would elevate her to be around the same or greater.

Finally, Light Magic Regina is superior to Enhanced Zelena (and possibly Dragon Mal but we can't tell because we'll probably never see that fight) and is probably the strongest (non-Savior or Dark One or Merlin or Deity) in the series. As to her fight with Fiona, she used a fireball (probably counts as Dark Magic) and got smacked silly by both Gideon and Fiona whereas even non-enhanced Zelena was stronger than that.

Please keep in mind that not only Mal but Cora, Regina, and Zelena have all had their fair share of embarrassing defeats that make them look weak when in reality they are far from it.