Apparently a hard counter but yes, on a closer look it could have gone either way. One OE hit was needed alongside the two shockwaves, and you couldn't let the OE out after turn 30 otherwise you'd deck. So a fast dragon, late OE would have killed you. +1 Shockwave -1 OE would have made this quite easy, and 2 dragons for earth would have made it way more difficult.
EDIT: Actually, two dragons could have made it virtually impossible unless Root packed a FW.