Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-6252544-20140308011339/@comment-4130835-20140315200910

It is very clear that the Red Queen is no where near Regina's or Cora's level when it comes to defensive and offensive magic but she is a talented witch in her own right.

Regina tried to fight of the monkey but it was prepared for her attack and avoided the fire ball with speed... Its clear the Wiked Witch knew exactly how to play against Regina and didn't send just anyone after her.

Its shown on the show that magic takes concentration, will power and emotional control. So maybe when the characters are attacked by suprise it can affect their ability to will defensive magic.