Just got Magic the Gathering as a late Christmas present.

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My friend gave me my first deck ever, and I'm still not very good. How do you learn how to play better faster?

I would definitely say that is a late Christmas present.. by about 1-2 decades..

You can try to play it online. There are other free options too, but if you're going to spend money and want a game at any time mtgo would be a good bet.

It can take a while to get better. Assuming you got a Wizards-built preconstructed deck, it was intentionally designed to have some bad cards in it so you can get the joy of replacing them with something better. That will help a bit.

Get some boosters. Add appropriate cards. Trade inappropriate cards for other appropriate cards.

If you can afford it, try to find a Deckbuilder's Toolkit ($25-30). The semi-random cards included in the package are actually quite useful, and you get some boosters.

Practice, practice, practice!

Do you have someone to play with? I taught my friend to play, I made a deck for him and we played a lot and I coached him. MTG online is a good place to practice, but it costs money, if you play video games, you can get Magic 2012 on Xbox 360 and I think PS3, which is a simplified version, but still fun and good practice.

Just get Magic The Gathering 2012 Edition on Steam. You can pick it up cheap and play against the AI or online against other players, without having to spend money on additional cards.

Oh, I didn't know it was on Steam as well, that's cool.

Here is the major MTG site.

I know other players are going to chastise me, and I might derail the thread, but one of the best ways I improved is because I convinced myself there is no luck to this game. I can surely tell you at least 90 percent of the games I lost, I made a terrible mistake. Even when you win, you should always review the game in your head to see if you could make a better play, such as what you lost to and what your cards did that game. You have to pay attention to your game and what you did if you really want to become better.

In order to pay such attention, you not only need to play as much as possible (and as cheaply as possible, I am sorry but I don't know any online formats since I only play in person, but if the Steam thing is good and close, then by all means do it), but talk to other players about what cards they are playing and why they think they are good to play. You don't need to hang on to every word, but there is no real money on the line, so don't be afraid to lose because you are experimenting with something.

I don't want to get into too much more detail if you are still new, but my game, especially my skills in booster draft, skyrocketed when I did what I said the last two paragraphs. I lost A TON when I first started, so don't worry as long as you learned something new each game.

I also suggest you get some websites of stores that sell cards. Not because you want to buy them (they are usu. pretty overpriced), but to get an idea of how much they are going for if you want to trade. I don't know what your deck is from, and I am not sure if you live in America, since I ran your location through my translator and did not get a specific place.

EDIT: Sorry, I did not tell you how to get cards. Actually, the new set is coming out soon in America, and ther are going tobe events called prereleases wher you get some product to build a deck from a pool of cards. You get a collection, get to play some games, and possibly make friends; these things are very laid back (hopefully, it is very competitive where I am). I also think for now buying Innistrad (or later, Dark Ascension after it gets released) booster packs are your other way for now. Please be aware that this game is a major financial sink, and it got to a point for me where I could not stop playing because I put too much money into it. These events are $30 USD where I live, and we have a major supply here.