I got the Knight distinction with Disintegrities, Flames, and Smiths, and Disintegrities I mostly used to build up preparations too. It's super viable.

Adding another note that the Priest of Magpies is actually countertinuitively something of a trap in Pages runs: he's great if you can grab him of course but he *requires* another accomplice that can build preparations consistently. The other Preists, the Fool, or the Queen of Loins. The Queen of Cod is actually a very bad pair with him because you then only have a 1 in 5 chance of being able to build Preparations on any given draw, and you'll need to draw that card twice if not three times, making it very possible to get messed up by RNG before you can get going with any given Page.

I'm also currently having great success with a checkless team consisting of Gambits, Teeth, and Roots. Teeth I mash in the beginning until Poison Tolerance hits 2 or 3, and then Roots finishes the enemy off. It's shockingly effective. Gambits is mostly just there as filler so I don't have to play Roots or Teeth at inopportune times; he's easily replaceable with a Smith or Queen for preparations or deck control.