diff --git a/app/services/liquid_cached_assigns.rb b/app/services/liquid_cached_assigns.rb
index 9e74dc0f1..5f1e82562 100644
--- a/app/services/liquid_cached_assigns.rb
+++ b/app/services/liquid_cached_assigns.rb
@@ -23,7 +23,9 @@ def key?(key)
   end
 
   def merge(hash)
-    LiquidCachedAssigns.new(project: project).merge!(@assigns.merge(hash))
+    lca = LiquidCachedAssigns.new(project: project)
+    lca.assigns = @assigns.merge(hash)
+    lca
   end
 
   def merge!(hash)