Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-26184894-20160222033019/@comment-25926288-20160222035343

Well, that's not true, she deus ex machina's her way through, but I guess you don't see that as growth. (Example, she did light magic and she used the Merlin wand).

Regina has never been top tier magic powerhouse level as top tier level of knowledge as are all of Rumple's students. Emma started off stronger than Regina and she simply finetuned it a little here and there (with offscreen practice). Rumple is vaguely at most twice as strong or capable of a little more than before.

Anyhow, Regina was above everyone of the Queens of Darknesses. Yes, Mal knocked her out, but Regina wasn't fighting back. Anyhow, we all think they are about similarly powerful.

Regina defeated Zelena before so in Regina's mind she can do so again. It's not always about brawn, but also brain power as well. If Zelena is all wacky envious then Regina can easily take advantage of Zelena in order to win (even though Regina's never prone to be that clever). Regina has the third top level of magical knowledge on the show. Only Rumple and Zelena are above her.

So, in short, Regina doesn't need a power boost as she's perfectly fine. Regina just gets a little cocky and sometimes overestimates herself. I mean Zelena did the same thing. Zelena acted as if she could take on the Dark Swan and we know that Zelena is only a little stronger than Regina and is dwarfed by the Dark One's dark magic and easily defeatable with Emma's light magic. I wouldn't think to hard about it.