Mansell qualified for the 2013 World Championship by taking the 14th place of the 16 that were available through the ProTour Order of Merit for the highest non-qualified players. In his second World Championship he lost to 15-time winner Phil Taylor 0–3 in the first round, as Mansell won only one leg during the match and averaged 78.46. Mansell was ranked world number 51 after the tournament. In his second World Cup of Darts with Brendan Dolan the pair were beaten 4–5 in the last 16 by the Croatian duo of Robert Marijanović and Tonči Restović. Mansell reached the quarter-finals of a PDC event for the first time since October 2010 in May at the third Players Championship, but lost 4–6 to Paul Nicholson. Mansell beat Co Stompé and Conan Whitehead to face Michael van Gerwen in the fourth round of the UK Open, which he lost 3–9. Mansell was again a qualifier for the World Grand Prix and had a superb opportunity to achieve the biggest win of his career to date as he had three match darts against world number four Simon Whitlock in the deciding leg of the final set but missed them all. Mansell later revealed how this match impacted his darts for the subsequent year ahead as every time he played it was on his mind. At the Dutch Darts Masters he beat Tonči Restović and Gino Vos, before losing 6–4 to Kim Huybrechts in the third round.