I main Astaroth and I find it hard to use much of his moves to open up on players with experience in the game.
My kit is limited to fast startup moves or positive frame moves until I can find a counter combo to expand on. I also get a lot of hate mail for this, especially from higher level...
I played SoulCalibur IV very lazily, I made no effort to use any of the mechanics and I had fun stomping newbies with Cervantes' move where he slams down from the air (4B+K was it?) I got my ass handed to me by a Rock player and I thought his moveset was really cool, so I went to training mode...
I'm replying to you about 6 months late but this may help someone else with Maxi:
Distance yourself as much as possible and go for quick interrupts if he gets too close (:6::K:, :6::B:)
Don't allow him to spin his Nunchuks around for too long, his combos tend to have pauses in them or he'll...