Cope's best finishes of the 2012–13 season were last 16 defeats in the first three ranking events of the year, which did include a 5–1 victory over world number one Mark Selby in the first round of the Shanghai Masters.&lt;ref name="2012/13"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; In the rest of the season Cope struggled for form as he lost his qualifying match in the next three ranking events, and although he qualified for the World Open and the China Open, he lost 2–5 in the first round to Graeme Dott in the former and 2–5 in the wildcard round to Zhao Xintong in the latter. Cope played in eight of the ten Players Tour Championship events, but could not advance beyond the last 16 in any of them to finish 50th on the PTC Order of Merit. His season ended when he lost 3–10 to world number 70 Dechawat Poomjaeng in the final round of World Championship Qualifying. His drop down the rankings continued as he ended the year ranked world number 38, outside of the top 32 for the first time since 2006.