The drizzling rain Thursday didn't stop about 50 people from lining up outside Wayne's Sports Cards, all of them waiting eagerly to get their hands on a coveted Connor McDavid rookie card.

It was the first day the cards went on sale, and fans had no qualms about digging deep for them.

"It's gonna be huge, so I'm buying a case in order to get one of the cards," said Oilers fan Blake Stubbington.

The prize. (Min Dhariwal/CBC News ) He was the first in line at 10 o'clock, ready with $1,200 dollars in hand to shell out on a case.

Others travelled quite a distance to get here.

Sandy Utzyenger and his girlfriend Andrea are here on vacation from Switzerland, mainly to watch four Oilers games. Utzyenger has been following McDavid since his junior hockey days.

"We're just here for the game for the Oilers, and now I want the card," said Utzyenger.

The odds of getting a McDavid card are rare. There can be two in a case of 2,300 cards for this year's 2015/2016 series from Upper Deck cards.

Wayne Wagner, the store's owner, came in early to get ready for the rush. He says the hype around McDavid is real. And it`s not too early to compare him to some of the greats like Sidney Crosby in 2005 and 2006.

"It's those generational hockey players where we see the hype. It was him (Crosby), there was Eric Lindros, there was Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, it's those types of players that drive this kind of interest."

After buying their cards many started searching through them immediately, ripping one pack open after another on store counters. About 30 minutes after Blake bought his case, after searching 90 packs, he was the first to discover a McDavid rookie card.

"This is something I'm going to have forever, this is something I`ll pass on to my son, yup, it's awesome," said Stubbington, who wasted no time slipping his prized McDavid rookie card into a hard plastic case.

Shortly after, three others hit gold as well, finding McDavid cards of their own.

And the value of the cards has already taken off. They`re selling for at least $250 on-line, and climbing fast.