It is included only as part of a cost, trigger condition, or replacement effect. e.g., “As an additional cost to play me, kill a friendly unit” doesn’t target anything. e.g., “When a friendly unit dies, kill a gear” targets a gear, but not a friendly unit. e.g., “When you play me, the next time a friendly unit would die this turn, return it to your hand instead” doesn’t target anything. The replacement effect applies when any friendly unit dies. e.g., “Choose a friendly unit. The next time it would die this turn, return it to your hand instead” targets a friendly unit, because “choose a friendly unit” is not part of the replacement effect. 1. This includes costs within instructions, identified by phrases like “[do X] to [do Y].” The cost within that instruction is “[do X].” e.g., “When I hold, you may kill another friendly unit here to draw 1” does not target anything. e.g., “When you play me, you may spend a buff to move a friendly unit” targets the friendly unit, but not the buff.
§ 355.10.c Core Rules PDF (officieel)
§ 355 2. Make relevant choices.
§ 355.10 A game object, player, or zone mentioned in the text of a spell, activated ability, or triggered ability is a target UNLESS any of the following are true: