(This post seems out of context, but Fendante just asked me to talk about Asta... THEN DELETED IT :O !!!! ) WHY MAN, WHY?!!!!!
Well, I'll say it now - I am terrible at explaining gameplay unless I am actually playing, or have a replay playing. I am doing neither at the moment, so here goes a try.
First off, I JG all multi-hit strings. Astaroth is a beginner JG'ers dream. His moves are slow, and very easy to react to. Play "KillerGreg" AI on quick battle until you can JG all his two hit strings - Bullrush BE etc etc. Anything that involves lightning is also very easy to JG on reaction.
Second, and this is the second non-Raphael specific tip, learn to break grabs. I am not sure if it's because I play on stick, but breaking grabs feels easy and should be COMPLETELY unconscious to you. You should also be swapping what you mash whilst blocking based on Yomi. When I played on pad I used A+B and B+K for the bumpers. This meant I could easily mash A on the pad face, or the right bumper for B+K whilst guarding.
I don't know how I know, but I very rarely duck grabs and still rarely fail to break them. That Ivy was potential chump-change with the simple addition of what I call a level-1 Ivy grab break game; You mash B all the time whilst guarding or even attacking, and A if you see a BE flash of ANY kind (don't try and react to A+G BE.) I do things such as 44B and actually mash A, if I sense a A grab coming, during the end of the attack where you can be grabbed.
With Asta, a non-meta (few mind-games going on,) grab game is to mash A whilst crouching in any shape or form (this includes force crouch,) and if you are standing whilst your back is not near a wall, or he has 0 meter. B with walls nearby, or standing WITH meter, (or if he wants to finish you off quickly try A again.) Low end Yomi, but super effective.
Your prep entries of choice for Asta are great. 4B if you smell a grab coming, 44AB if he is trying to step you into a vertical wiff. 66B tracks very well, and pretty much tells him he is useless at range. If you are outside his longest range a 44A+BG should entice him closer. You can bait bullrush whilst staying outside it's range with Prep 4. It's not too hard if your entry was at a good range. This is a very niche mix-up though.
B+K and 4A+B are you friends here. He has many strings you can apply them to, a lot without even a JG needed to start it off. 22B should be B+K'd on reaction, focus mainly on his step pattern. Again, low-end Yomi, but very effective. This is a pretty decent list here of some ideas to practice:
http://calibur.8wayrun.com/threads/raphael-string-defense-guide.13158/#post-472356
Props to Heaton, that guy has it going on.
Your grabs are going to be super effective due to the fact that Astaroths seem to hate ducking, don't ask me why. However, 22B is harder to get in due to the wide tracking angles of his move-set, so a 2A 66A+G mix-up, or other variants, will be harder to get in.
I'll be brutally honest here. I think Astaroth sucks. I can beat pretty much every 90%+ online hero, and the hardest the AI has to offer for one simple reason. He is TRASHED by fundamentals. JG, throw-breaks, and good punishment via 236B and others just plain ol' wrecks his game. He just doesn't seem to have much to scare Raphael with other than bullrush. Bullrush as a move, however, isn't THAT scary. They'll either spam it, and that means you will adapt and win - or they'll use it for specific setups, which means you can just mix-up and win.
Do not be afraid to use Prep in this fight, he will no doubt stay close enough for you to JG 3B for a reliable prep entry. Mix-up the Prep entry, and just dance around this slow-ass fool. Did I mention you can jump over him during some of his strings? No man comes back from that....
