All but set for rejection, a 'Yes' surprisingly on the cards

'all but set for rejection' is the definition.
I don't know anything about this answer so I can't tell whether this works.

'a yes surprisingly on the cards' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is found in the answer.
'yes' could be 'ay' and 'ay' is found within the answer.
'on' could be 're' ('on' can be mean 'with reference to') and 're' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'ids' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).

Can you help me to learn more?