The visitors dominated on Wednesday night, missed conversions from all four tries, flattering the Maroons as they sunk to a second-straight defeat at a packed Suncorp Stadium.
The Blues were made to sweat for their win, losing Brian To'o to the sin-bin on the stroke of halftime when he tackled Xavier Coates in the air as the Maroons winger attempted to plant a try.
There was no penalty try but it did leave the Blues exposed, beginning the second half.
They looked up to the task when six men bundled Valentine Holmes into touch.
But from the next play Coates scored, Jeremiah Nanai's pinpoint hit on Latrell Mitchell sending the ball loose and the Maroons pouncing.
At 14-6 it was still anyone's game, both sides error-riddled under fatigue as the quality descended.
Two-try hero Zac Lomax and Connor Watson combined to produce the moment, both somehow popping offloads in tackles and Dylan Edwards scoring the clincher with eight minutes to play.
Halves Mitchell Moses and Nathan Cleary clicked in their partnership debut while Stephen Crichton shrugged off his early-week injury crisis. Mitchell was immense in his Origin return.
That was all made possible by a dominant Blues pack, the hosts winning a third-straight Origin game for the first time since 2006.
The Blues' go-forward quietened the capacity crowd in the first half, the Maroons giving away three ruck penalties inside the first 10 minutes to gift the visitors field position.
Harry Grant was ineffective at hooker while Pat Carrigan missed five tackles and had the Maroons pack's only tackle break at half-time, compared to 12 from the Blues forwards.
That dominance didn't show on the scoreboard until later in the half, Payne Haas breaking the line and offloading before Lomax scored after 24 minutes.
To'o crossed four minutes later, Mitchell's brilliant, mid-air offload setting that try up before a slick left-to-right movement allowed Lomax to score his second.
Cleary - eventually relieved of kicking duties - missed all three conversions though, the Maroons heading to the sheds down just 14-2 after To'o was sin-binned for his aerial antics.
The series heads to Perth for game two on June 18, Optus Stadium a happy hunting ground for the Blues after heavy wins in the only two Origins staged at the venue.
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