Asta Match-up List

Cervantes - 5:5 - This match can go either way. Alot of it is going to depend on how good your opponet is nailing the iGDR command. If he's pretty capable, then you'll want to play him a little safer and force the guard damage. If he's god awful and is a simple rushdown Cervy, 6A stuffs alot of his options for CH. 66B is still a good punisher. Avoid using strings if he punishes you with aB.
I got a friend who uses only Cervy and he dominates the hell out of me without ever using the iGDR. He does kind of a rushdown style but does so skillfully without throwing out random stuff the way noobs do and I struggle like hell against him.
 
I got a friend who uses only Cervy and he dominates the hell out of me without ever using the iGDR. He does kind of a rushdown style but does so skillfully without throwing out random stuff the way noobs do and I struggle like hell against him.

The hardest thing about these opinions is keeping yourself biased. I'm in the same boat. Very skilled cervy player, but more of a pressure offense. not a rushdown offense. Stupid rushdown cervy players eat my ax for dinner :D
 
yea....rather not be that guy, but please input your match-up opinions also. NONE of you have done so :P

So far:

Cervantes - 5:5 - This match can go either way. Alot of it is going to depend on how good your opponet is nailing the iGDR command. If he's pretty capable, then you'll want to play him a little safer and force the guard damage. If he's god awful and is a simple rushdown Cervy, 6A stuffs alot of his options for CH. 66B is still a good punisher. Avoid using strings if he punishes you with aB.

i'd give more...but i'm currently at work.

The problem with Cervantes is that regardless of how good they are with stock i:gdr, when round 3 hits, the entire matchup changes 100% in his favor. He's all like "lol i have meter" and then suddenly the bastard thinks he's M. Bison. The M is for Morgan, apparently.
 
Does astaroths 44B after CH 6K miss on certain chars? I had it miss completely against an Ezio roughly 6 times in a row.
 
Also, is Astaroth TJing in 6k? If so, for how many frames. all? i got hit by some obnoxious natsu's 1a during my 6k
 
Also, is Astaroth TJing in 6k? If so, for how many frames. all? i got hit by some obnoxious natsu's 1a during my 6k
I don't think so. I get hit by lows and throws all the time. Don't think I've ever evaded anything with 6K.
 
Viola

Wait for her orb to be set.

When at range, sidestep constantly or you'll get abused by her orb harassment.

When she closes the distance she will either do something entirely unsafe which opens up your own venue of attacks/throws, or she will try to use her frame traps with her orb. If you haven't been constantly stepping she will use her orb to harass you from behind while she runs up and likely tries to hit you with a low at the same time in kind of a confusing pincer attack. It's worth noting that the orb can be blocked low regardless of where it hits, so don't fear the visual mindfuck of being attacked on two different hit levels.

Now her frame trap itself is derived from aab or bbb. These look like two fast strikes, and then she immediately calls her orb back from behind you to smack you in the back of the head if you do anything. Sound familiar? Go into sparring and recognize with this move looks like, because its how 90% of viola's keep up their false pressure. Also recognize that if her orb isn't set, it leaves her wide open.

It has a massive flaw when fighting astaroth though. The orb portion of the attack is a high, so after the first two attacks you can 66k right under it. That is a great interrupt and will give you +10, which is all the advantage in the world you need to get right into your throw game. If, for any reason she is not using these attacks to create false pressure, she is instead being incredibly unsafe and that lets us get into our throw groove if we are defending appropriately.

I don't know the notation off the top of my head, but she has a little hop attack that strikes low and puts you on the ground at a severe disadvantage. Get used to recognizing this and blocking it on reaction. Apart from her false pressure games this is the only major annoyance when you aren't used to seeing it.

clarification: aab can be interrupted 100% of the time with a bullrush, bbb can still be guarded into. Most viola's simply buffer their next attack during the frame trap however, so you will get many counterhits this way until they learn. When they start guarding after bbb, you can also step the orb left and go into your throw game.


Her CE

This move will appear wherever her orb is set. if the orb is nearby, it will slowly suck you towards it. Try to step away from it if this happens, but recognize that as soon as its out viola will be running towards you for the attack. If you hit her with anything while it's out, the CE will stop, so if she's running straight at you and the CE is far enough away you can consider bullrushing her in the face.

Think of it like a small vacuum trap. It hits multiple times, so once you're stuck inside guarding viola only needs to hit you once to make it start to combo you into whatever she wants. This makes it exceptionally dangerous if she comes in and starts doing fast low kicks, because any attack will start a combo once you're inside of it. Remember, this CE is the MOST dangerous on block because damage scaling hasn't even started yet and she can still fuck you up into literally anything she wants. You can't treat it like other moves.

The best defense against it is, don't be near it when it goes off. Another great reason to be constantly sidestepping when you're fighting her at range. Sometimes you can't manage that, but you need to try to. Failing that, you have to play the guessing game between mid and low strikes when she runs in. That's the only way.

Throw game

When orb is out, her A throw does the most damage and has the potential to ring you out. Break this constantly.

When her orb is not set, I believe her B throw is the bigger danger.

When she throws you backturned, you're going for a ride. Shouldn't have let that happen.
 
The best defense against it is, don't be near it when it goes off. Another great reason to be constantly sidestepping when you're fighting her at range. Sometimes you can't manage that, but you need to try to. Failing that, you have to play the guessing game between mid and low strikes when she runs in. That's the only way.


Wrong, by far the best defence is to jump in to the orb with something like 9K or 9B+K, it'll put you in the air and start damage scalling instantly and she can't start her bbb combo because it puts you in some weird position where you can AC the return orb really easily.

atleast then theres no mix up and the damage you take will be under 30 no matter what.
 
There a few juggles with that issue, especially against someone like mitsu who has a bizzare hitbox.

aab usually works where bbb doesn't, especially if you wait for them to fall. Something about that string just rapes air control prior to the orb returning. Have you tried that?

Either way, i dont agree with the application exactly. I'd rather avoid all of the damage and potentially knock her teeth out when she runs in at me.
 
well it's down to personal prefrence but every time i jump in the air i always fall to the ground with no or very little combo damage.

on the other hand i've lost 40% of my bar from being stuck blocking high and being thrown as the super forces you to block high unless she does a low.
 
We need a few more writeups on matchups in here. In fact, we almost need a new thread since this one got so off-topic.

Siegfried - 5:5

From playing hundreds of matches with a good Sieg player, I'd say this matchup is pretty even. Sieg's main pressure tools are agA and 3BB (aka Chief Hold B), both of which give him advantage on block. Be mindful of his WR B, as it tracks more than 3B and gives natural hit combos unlike its 3B counterpart. The recent patch hurt our backstep, so 3B and WR B will eat you alive if you try that too much. Don't rely on too many of Asta's horizontals, as Sieg's B+K stance auto-GI's them with ease. Our 44A should still be used though. Our 6AA isn't too useful due to Sieg's 3B having a tech crouch and pushback.

You can go about this matchup in 2 ways: take the gamble while at disadvantage and try to 66K under agA/sidestep 3BB with 22B punishes, OR, you can take a lot of guard damage until you find an opening. I've won matches using both methods.

There's not much to do in terms of block punishing in this matchup. Many of Sieg's move have pushback. For instance, his 66B is punishable if he does it at very close range, but at mid to long range, we have nothing to punish him with. His 1K, Reverse Side Hold K, and Flapjack (FC A_B+G) are punishable by 4B or 2A_B+G. WR A,A can be punished by command grabs.

Your success in this matchup will also hinge on your knowledge of all of his stances and the moves that come with them. You also need to be mindful of his frame traps. Some of these frame traps include: agA -> 3B, Chief Hold B -> agA, Chief Hold B -> 66K, 2[A+B] -> K BE, 44B -> K BE, and 2B -> K.

Note: I know spelling out the stances isn't the correct notation form to use, but for ease of reading, I spelled them out for those unaware of his stance abbreviations.

This match is clearly 9:1 for Astaroth, didn't you get the memo? You can just 66K/FC3K everything Siegfried does out of stances.
 
Wrong, by far the best defence is to jump in to the orb with something like 9K or 9B+K, it'll put you in the air and start damage scalling instantly and she can't start her bbb combo because it puts you in some weird position where you can AC the return orb really easily.

atleast then theres no mix up and the damage you take will be under 30 no matter what.

Well that's not true, she can do some juggles like 4K then delay 33B] and still combo after with AAB and shit.
 
ahh, well it's never happend to me yet :), i guess as long as they dont know to do that then i'll be ok, otherwise i'll just have to guess like normal.
 
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