When an opponent plays Falling Star and you respond with Retreat to return your unit, does the opponent have to target their own unit twice (potentially killing it with Deflect)?

Ruling: Yes, if Retreat removes your unit before Falling Star's reflexive triggers resolve, the opponent must still choose two targets. If only their Deflect unit remains, they must target it twice but do not pay additional power (Deflect only makes opponents pay extra, not the controller).

Sequence:

• Falling Star is played (no targets declared yet)
• Reaction window opens
• Retreat is played, returning your unit to hand
• Falling Star resolves, creating 2 reflexive trigger abilities on the chain
• Opponent declares targets for each trigger (must target remaining units)
• Reaction window opens again
• Each trigger resolves individually

Nuances:

• Spells with "do this:" wording create reflexive triggers that go on the chain after the spell resolves, so targets are chosen after opponents can react to the initial spell
• Deflect only makes opponents pay extra power to target that unit, not the controller themselves
• You get multiple reaction windows: one when Falling Star is initially played, and another after the reflexive triggers are created with targets declared