diff --git a/projects/mtg/tools/gatherer/buildCardSkel.pl b/projects/mtg/tools/gatherer/buildCardSkel.pl
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..10f8fbe6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/projects/mtg/tools/gatherer/buildCardSkel.pl
@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+#!/usr/bin/perl 
+###########################################
+#
+# this script will parse the db generated by Gatherer Extractor to build a
+#	file with Wagic card definitions partially filled in.
+############################################
+my %rarityMap = ( 
+			"Uncommon" => "U", 
+			"Common" => "C",
+			"Rare" 	=> "R",
+			"Mythic" => "M"
+		);
+
+my %costNumberMap = (	
+			"a" => 1,
+			"an" => 1,
+			"one" => 1,
+			"two" => 2,
+			"three" => 3,
+			"four" => 4
+		);
+
+my %extraCosts = ();
+my $cardCost;
+while (<>)
+{
+	chomp;
+	s/
//g;
+	s/Text=/text=/;
+
+	if (/\[\/card/ )
+	{
+		foreach $extraCost (keys %extraCosts)
+		{
+			my $cost = $extraCost eq "Multikicker" ? "multi" : "";
+			print lc ($extraCost) . "=$cost" . subCosts($extraCosts{$extraCost}) . "\n";
+			delete $extraCosts{$extraCost};
+		}
+		print "[/card]\n";
+	}
+	elsif (/^Name=(.*)/)
+	{
+		print "name=$1\n";
+	}
+	elsif (/Mana=/)
+	{
+		s/Mana=//;
+		s/(\w)/\{$1}/g;
+		s/\((\{.*?\})\)/$1/g;
+		s/\}\/\{/\//g;
+		print "mana=$_\n";
+		$cardCost = $_;
+	}
+
+	elsif (/^Type=/ )
+	{
+		my ($type, $subtype) = split /\s*\x97\s*/, $';
+		print "type=$type\n";
+		print "subtype=$subtype\n" if ($subtype);
+	}
+	elsif (/^Power/)
+	{
+		s/Power.*?=//gi;
+		s/[\(\)]//g;
+		my ($power, $toughness) = split /\//;	
+		print "power=$power\n" if ($power);
+		print "toughness=$toughness\n" if ($toughness);
+	}
+	elsif (/Rarity=/)
+	{
+		my @setsInfo = split /,/, $';
+		my @sets, @rarity;
+		foreach my $setInfo (@setsInfo)
+		{
+			my ($set, $rarity);
+			if ($setInfo  =~ /(.*?)(Rare|Common|Uncommon|Mythic)/i)
+			{
+				$set = $1;
+				$rarity = $rarityMap{$2};
+			}
+		}	
+	}
+	elsif ( /(Multikicker|Kicker|Buyback|Flashback)\s*\x97?\s*(.*?)\(You may/)
+	{
+		print "$_\n";
+		$extraCosts{$1} = $2;
+		#print STDERR "** $1=$2\n";	
+	}
+	elsif ( /(Kicker|Flashback|Buyback).*?(\{[\}\{GUBWRP\d].*?)\(/ )
+	{
+		print "$_\n";
+		$extraCosts{$1} = $2;
+		#print STDERR "+ $1=$2\n";	
+	}
+	elsif ( /^(Retrace)/ )
+	{
+		$extraCosts{$1} = $cardCost;
+		s/Text=/text=/;
+		print "$_\n";
+	}
+	elsif ( /Text=/ )
+	{
+		print "text=$'\n";
+	}
+	else
+	{
+		print "$_\n";
+	}
+
+}
+
+
+sub subCosts
+{
+	my $cost = shift (@_);
+	my $discardText = '{discard(*|myhand)}';
+	my $sacIslandText = '{S(island|mybattlefield)}';
+	my $sacLandText = '{S(land|mybattlefield)}';
+	my $sacCreatureText = '{S(creature|mybattlefield)}';
+	my $tapText = '{S(creature|mybattlefield)}';
+	$cost =~ s/Pay (\d+) life/'{L}' x $1/ei;
+	$cost =~ s/Discard (a|one|two|three) cards? at random.*/{D}{$costNumberMap{$1}}/ei;
+	$cost =~ s/Discard (one|two|three) cards?.*/$discardText x $costNumberMap{$1}/ei;
+	$cost =~ s/Sacrifice (one|two|three) islands/$sacIslandText x $costNumberMap{$1}/ei;
+	$cost =~ s/Sacrifice (a|one|two|three) lands.*/$sacLandText x $costNumberMap{$1}/ei;
+	$cost =~ s/Sacrifice (a|one|two|three) creature.*/$sacCreatureText x $costNumberMap{$1}/ei;
+	$cost =~ s/Tap (an|one|two|three) untapped (.*?) you control.*/"{T($2|mybattlefield)}" x $costNumberMap{$1}/ei;
+	$cost =~ s/Return (a|one|two|three) creature(.*?) .*/"{H(creature|mybattlefield)}" x $costNumberMap{$1}/ei;
+
+	return $cost;	
+}