Joyce failed to qualify for any of the first four ranking events of the season, but then defeated Andy Hicks and Jamie Cope to reach the UK Championship.&lt;ref name="2012/13"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; At the event in York, the world number 50 Joyce pulled off a major shock by coming back from 2–5 down to knock out the world number one Judd Trump 6–5. In the second round he was beaten 2–6 by Ali Carter. After this, he won three matches to qualify for both the World Open and the China Open. Trump exacted his revenge in the first round of the World Open by whitewashing him 0–5, and he withdrew from the China Open as his partner was due to give birth. Joyce had a very consistent season in the minor-ranking Players Tour Championship events, with his best results coming in Event 4 and European Tour Event 5, where he lost in the quarter-finals to Trump and Ken Doherty respectively. He finished 26th on the PTC Order of Merit, claiming the final spot to qualify for the Finals, where Marco Fu beat him 4–2. Joyce's season ended when he was beaten 7–10 by Michael Holt in the final round of World Championship Qualifying. He climbed 17 places in the rankings during the year to end it placed at world number 42.