Yes, I cherry picked and got burned. I don't think there is a prompt regarding automatic removals when you manually install an upgrade. I manually upgraded xserver-xorg-core, resulting in the removal of all xserver-xorg-video-xxx packages, hence my current lack of a GUI. I guess I could always pull from Testing, but I think I've done enough damage and so will sit and wait.
Edit: apt history log or it didn't happen:
Start-Date: 2016-11-24 17:47:13
Commandline: apt-get install xserver-xorg-core
Requested-By: xxx
Install: libxfont2:amd64 (1:2.0.1-2, automatic)
Upgrade: xserver-xorg-core:amd64 (2:1.18.4-2, 2:1.19.0-2)
Remove: xserver-xorg-input-all:amd64 (1:7.7+16), xserver-xorg-video-dummy:amd64 (1:0.3.7-1+b5), xserver-xorg-input-synaptics:amd64 (1.9.0-1), xserver-xorg:amd64 (1:7.7+16), xserver-xorg-video-r128:amd64 (6.10.1-2), xserver-xorg-video-qxl:amd64 (0.1.4-3+b1), xserver-xorg-video-vesa:amd64 (1:2.3.4-1+b1), xserver-xorg-video-nouveau:amd64 (1:1.0.13-1), xserver-xorg-video-amdgpu:amd64 (1.2.0-1), xserver-xorg-video-cirrus:amd64 (1:1.5.3-1+b1), xserver-xorg-input-void:amd64 (1:1.4.1-1+b1), xserver-xorg-video-trident:amd64 (1:1.3.7-2), xserver-xorg-video-fbdev:amd64 (1:0.4.4-1+b4), xserver-xorg-input-libinput:amd64 (0.22.0-1), xserver-xorg-video-savage:amd64 (1:2.3.8-2), xserver-xorg-input-wacom:amd64 (0.33.0-1), xserver-xorg-input-vmmouse:amd64 (1:13.1.0-1+b1), xserver-xorg-video-mach64:amd64 (6.9.5-1+b1), xserver-xorg-video-sisusb:amd64 (1:0.9.6-2+b4), xserver-xorg-video-intel:amd64 (2:2.99.917+git20161105-1), xserver-xorg-video-tdfx:amd64 (1:1.4.6-2), xserver-xorg-video-vmware:amd64 (1:13.2.1-1), xserver-xorg-input-evdev:amd64 (1:2.10.4-1), xserver-xorg-video-all:amd64 (1:7.7+16), xserver-xorg-video-ati:amd64 (1:7.8.0-1), xorg:amd64 (1:7.7+16), xpra:amd64 (0.17.6+dfsg-1), xserver-xorg-video-radeon:amd64 (1:7.8.0-1), xserver-xorg-video-neomagic:amd64 (1:1.2.9-1+b1), xserver-xorg-input-mouse:amd64 (1:1.9.2-1), xserver-xorg-video-mga:amd64 (1:1.6.4-2)
End-Date: 2016-11-24 17:47:50