When Emperor's Dais triggers on Conquer and you return your only unit as a cost, does the Sand Soldier token still resolve and play to the battlefield even though you lose control mid-resolution?

Ruling: The Sand Soldier token still plays to the battlefield because Emperor's Dais explicitly specifies to play it "here" (at the battlefield), which pre-selects a valid location regardless of whether you control the battlefield when the unit finalizes. However, returning your only unit causes you to lose control of the battlefield during cleanup, which triggers a showdown.

Sequence:

• Emperor's Dais Conquer ability goes on the chain
• You pay 1 and return your only unit as the ability resolves
• The Sand Soldier token is put pending on the chain and the ability finishes resolving
• During cleanup after the ability resolves, you lose control of the battlefield (no units remaining)
• The Sand Soldier token finalizes on the chain during this cleanup
• The Sand Soldier plays to the battlefield at the location pre-selected by Dais's ability text
• A showdown is triggered because you don't control the battlefield
• You gain control of the battlefield again (but don't conquer again, as you can only conquer once per turn)

Nuances:

• The ability's text "play it here" pre-selects the battlefield as the valid location, so the token can still be played there even without control
• Units use the chain like other cards but resolve immediately once finalized
• There is a cleanup after the trigger resolves and before the unit finalizes, during which control is lost
• You cannot conquer the same battlefield twice in one turn