• Fixed Winter 2016 Cosmetics Collection items not being marketable

• The CELT voice codec is now the default for all game servers
  • Community servers can enable use of the older steam voice codec with sv_use_steam_voice 1

In the classic Smissmas story "The Gift of the Magi", a girl sells all of her hair to a hair warehouse to buy her boyfriend a watch chain, but in a shocking twist, he looks at his watch and remembers she's bald and it's time to break up with her. That's when the Magi show up, and it is a BLOODBATH.

The point is, giving people gifts can bite you in the ass. Too much potential for twist endings. So this Smissmas, why not sit back, scroll down, and leave the gift-giving to us.

New Festivizer Weapons

The Festivizer now has more weapons it can festivize, including the Fire Axe, The Jag, The Kritzkrieg, Pistol, The Quick-Fix, Natascha, The Sandman, The Spy-cicle, Kukri, Shovel and The Scottish Resistance.

New Winter-Themed Community Cosmetics

We're shipping 17 new community cosmetics in the limited-time keyless Winter 2016 Cosmetic Case. Plus, The Festivizer can now be found as a bonus drop when opening the Winter 2016 Cosmetic Case.

New Taunts

Two new community taunts The Scotsmann's Stagger and The Didgeridrongo and one new Valve taunt, The Table Tantrum, are now available in the Mann Co. Store.

Casual Match Improvements

At the end of a Casual match, players will now be automatically formed into a new match with the same players and teams. You'll also get to vote on which map the new match will take place on.

New Autobalancing System

We're introducing a new autobalance system for Casual Matches and community servers that asks for volunteers to switch sides. Casual matches will reward you for switching teams by giving you the chance to earn bonus XP!

Big Sale in the Mann Co. Store

It wouldn't be Smissmas without the Spirit of Practically Giving. Look for 20%-75% off selected unlocked cosmetic crates, taunts, and tools in the Mann Co. Store through January 11th, 2017.

And last but not least... Stocking stuffers for everyone! Merry Smissmas! See you in 2017!

• All players who play TF2 during the event will receive a Stuffed Stocking as a gift! Stockings contain goodies for good little Mercenaries.
• Added the limited-time key-less Winter 2016 Cosmetic Case to the Mann Co. Store
  • Contains 17 new community-contributed items
  • The Festivizer can be found as a bonus drop when opening the case
• Added 3 new taunts to the Mann Co. Store
  • The Scotsmann's Stagger (community-contributed)
  • The Didgeridrongo (community-contributed)
  • The Table Tantrum (Valve)
• New weapons for the Festivizer!
  • Fire Axe, The Jag, The Kritzkrieg, Pistol, The Quick-Fix, Natascha, The Sandman, The Spy-cicle, Kukri, Shovel and The Scottish Resistance
• Mann Co. Store winter sale!
  • Look for 20%-75% off selected unlocked cosmetic crates, taunts, and tools in the Mann Co. Store through January 11th, 2017
• Matchmaking Improvements
  • At the end of a Casual match, players are automatically formed into a new match with the same players and teams
    • Players get to vote on which map the new match will take place on
      • There are 3 maps to vote on, chosen based on the maps everyone in the match had selected when they began searching for a match. The current map is always the first option.
    • This replaces the Rematch system
  • Players can now set their maximum acceptable ping by clicking the new gear icon in the top right of the Casual and Competitive matchmaking lobby screens and choosing "Ping Settings"
• New autobalance system to help with balancing teams when players leave a match. The system will ask players to volunteer to switch teams.
  • Automatically enabled for all Casual match servers
    • Players who switch will be able to earn bonus XP as a reward
  • Community servers can enable this new feature by using "mp_autoteambalance 2"

• Fixed security issue reported by Justin G. (sigsegv) and Linus S. (PistonMiner)
• Fixed not clearing the teleport condition for players who have their teleport interrupted before the teleport is complete
• Fixed PASS Time exploit related to bonus points
• Updated mat_monitorgamma so it can be adjusted in Competitive mode
• Fixed the ShouldPreserveSquad flag not being parsed correctly in Mann vs. Machine mode
• Fixed a bug related to bot Engineers and teleporters in Mann vs. Machine mode
• Fixed not being able to transfer Strange stats between versions of Jarate and the Sapper
• Fixed incorrect particle position for Unusual taunt effects when using the Racho Relaxo
• Added the ESA Rewind tournament medals
• Added the Winter Wonderland 2016 community medals
• Updated the Dalokohs Bar to fix a bug related to the health buff
• Matchmaking
  • The Competitive maps list has been updated
    • Added cp_granary and cp_badlands
    • Disabled cp_snakewater and cp_foundry
• Updated cp_metalworks to fix a texture problem
• Updated pd_watergate
  • Respawn times will now change depending on which team is in the lead: 8 seconds to leading team, 4 seconds to trailing team
  • Moved the current beer amount to the center of the HUD
  • Added a jump to low spawn route to give respawned players something to do en-route to mid
  • Added a light to illuminate roof-snipers better
  • Adjusted some clipping

The Yogscast Jingle Jam is back, and as always, all proceeds go to charity. You give funds to excellent causes, and they give you fun in the form of games and unique Team Fortress 2 items. Contribute $30 or more to immediately receive a host of awesome games, and more revealed EVERY DAY throughout December!

They have already raised more than $1,000,000, so head on over and donate while supplies last - and help make the world a better place!

LuckyLukeTF2 is back with more impressive TF2 action from Insomnia 58, the biggest TF2 tournament in the world. With teams from America, Australia and Europe, watch all the soldier-juggling, medic-gibbing action you want to relive from Insomnia 58 above or here.

• Added Jingle Jam 2016 community medals
• Fixed Casual mode search criteria sometimes not loading properly when starting the game
• Updated the Unusual Cap to support Unusual taunt particle effects
• Unusual taunt effects now follow the player during taunts where the player moves

• Taunt Unusualifiers apply non-Halloween Unusual effects now that Halloween has ended
• Added a "Jungle" tag for Workshop submissions

If you live in a place unlucky enough to have seasons, the weather's probably starting to turn into what meteorologists call "garbage," and like all of us, you're starting to think about a nice vacation to the tropics. And if you're also like us, you then start remembering how all those places have filthy water and enormous spiders and those weird little fish that crawl up your anyway, the point is you're going nowhere.

So instead, we re bringing the tropics to you, with a new tropical jungle-themed map we're working on! And we'd love the talented folks in the Workshop to join us!

For those of you already developing for existing community themes, good news: There's a lot you've already developed that we think will fit in perfectly with the tropical theme.

For the rest of you Workshop creators, consider this a call to action for all things tropical over the next few months: particles, maps, items and anything else. If you've got something tropical in mind, get cracking, because we'd love to see it. Don't forget to upvote your favorites in the Workshop!

• Returned Unusual drop chances and possible particles effects to their original values now that Halloween has ended
• Added beta support for the CELT voice codec
  • Currently only enabled in community servers that opt-in to the beta
  • Server operators can enable CELT usage by setting the below convars, followed by a level change
    • sv_use_steam_voice 0
    • sv_voicecodec vaudio_celt
• Updated the localization files
• Fixed an occasional client crash with an error message regarding "CL_ReadPreserveEnt"

Remember how in 2015 Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials came out, and we all agreed as a planet that we'd basically solved movies forever and never had to watch or make another one again? Well, it might finally be time to re-open the debate. Presenting your 2016 Saxxy Award winners.