Cope ya fara kakar wasa ta 2011-12 tare da rashin nasara a zagaye na farko a gasar zakarun Turai.
Australian Goldfields Open da rashin nasara a zagaye na biyu a Shanghai Masters, wanda ya sa ya rasa matsayinsa a cikin manyan 16 bayan yankewa na farko a cikin Oktoba, kamar yadda aka sanya shi lamba 18. Sabili da haka, yanzu ana buƙatar Cope ya lashe wasan neman shiga don isa babban zane na abubuwan da suka faru. Ya kasa yin wannan a cikin gasa uku masu zuwa, ya yi rashin nasara ga Joe Jogia, Yu Delu da Ken Doherty, a ƙoƙarin cancanta ga Gasar Burtaniya, Masters na Jamus da Welsh Open bi da bi. Cope ya dakatar da cin hanci da rashawa ta hanyar doke Jamie Burnett don samun wuri a cikin Open Open, wanda aka gudanar a Haikou, China. Ya buga Martin Gould a zagaye na farko kuma, bayan ya sami kansa 2 zuwa 4 a baya, ya samar da dawowa don cin nasarar firam uku na ƙarshe don kafa rikici na karshe na 16 tare da John Higgins. Cope ba zai iya ci gaba da gudana a gasar ba, duk da haka, wanda ya yi nasara a gasar zakarun duniya. Cope kuma ya cancanci zuwa China Open, amma a wannan lokacin ya kasance a ƙarshen ƙarshen 4 × 5, kamar yadda Neil Robertson ya fitar da shi a zagaye na farko. Lokacin Cope ya ƙare ba da daɗewa ba bayan wannan, kamar yadda ya yi hasara a cikin cancantar zuwa Gasar Cin Kofin Duniya ga Liu Chuang. Ya kasance mai lamba 27 a duniya, ma'ana ya sauka wurare 12 a cikin shekara, mafi yawan kowane ɗan wasan da ya gama kakar a cikin manyan 32.