Win, Lose, or Draw by LockeIsTheKey

This is one of my many guesses as to what will happen in the finale:

We know there is a game happening, two players. Locke explains everything in the first episode.

The thing about a game (Backgammon is the personification of the real game taking place) though is that there are only 3 options at the end of a game for every player. You either win or you lose or there's a draw. Think about the game Connect 4 that Hurley and Leonard like to play in the mental hospital...if no one connects 4 and the whole thing is filled up, what do you do? You drop all of the pieces out and start over. Once you've determined no one can win, you just start over.

There are rules to playing games like Backgammon or Connect 4, common knowledge rules...things like not hurting your opponent to win or changing the conditions of the game, etc. One specific rule in Backgammon that caught my eye was the Doubling Cube. I hardly know anything about Backgammon so correct me if I'm wrong but basically you use the special dice with 6 numbers on it and you're rolling for double the stakes. Players can end the game quicker if they win. From what I understand, if you lose you can redouble making the stakes even higher.

So how does this fit with Lost? We know Jacob and MIB played a similar game as kids and adults. Something they both enjoyed and got along while playing. Now that MIB hates Jacob, perhaps he refuses to play with him anymore so Jacob is/was forcing the game on MIB on a larger scale. Jacob is using people as the checkers and each are making their move. Jacob is moving the pieces (people) to his side of the board and MIB keeps killing them because he doesn't want to play. For years this has resulted in draws. No one wins so the pieces (people) are killed and a new game is started. MIB can't just leave the game as he is bound to the island, all he can do is prevent Jacob from winning. What happens if Jacob wins? MIB/Smokey is killed. What happens if Smokey wins? Jacob is killed. Jacob picked 6 Losties and assigned them each a number in case they ever needed to utilize the Doubling Rule...4, 8, 15, 16, 23, 42. Smokey I think decides to play the game and utilize the Doubling rule...the number/player he got was John Locke. Whoever took Jacob's job was the number used for Jacob. The loophole MIB used is that he took the form of John Locke instead of using Locke as his replacement/pawn/checker. Locke has all of MIB's knowledge and memories and is a freakin smoke monster while Jack only knows what he's learned since he's been on the island and is human. It's all or nothing stakes now, if Jacob's number/candidate (Jack) can't defeat MIB's number/candidate (Locke) then MIB wins and is set free. If Jack wins then that means MIB is destroyed. If it is a draw then all the pieces are taken away (everyone killed) and they start a new game. Jacob or MIB or Widemore or Eloise or whoever is using Desmond may be trying to insure that a draw occurs by destroying the game board...the island.